Iraq’s parliament on Saturday passed a bill criminalizing same-sex relationships and transgenderism, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison, after amending an initial proposal that would have carried the death penalty.

In response, Amnesty International criticized “the violation of fundamental human rights”, estimating that the changes to the law adopted yesterday “endanger Iraqis who are already harassed every day” in a conservative country where sexual minorities live in the shadows.

The bill passed is an amendment to the 1988 anti-prostitution law and was adopted during a session of parliament attended by 170 of the 329 members of parliament, according to a statement from the Iraqi parliament’s press office.

The new articles provide for sentences of ten to 15 years in prison for same-sex relationships, as well as for the practice of wife swapping.

The bill also bans “any event that promotes homosexuality in Iraq,” providing a seven-year prison sentence for “promoting” same-sex relationships.

It also prohibits “changing one’s biological sex based on personal desires or inclinations” and provides for a sentence of one to three years in prison for anyone who participates in the gender transition process.

A corresponding penalty is imposed on any man whose behavior is judged to be effeminate.

Iraqi society rejects homosexuality, and the country’s small LGBTI+ community is often the target of “kidnapping, rape, torture and murder” by armed groups that enjoy “impunity,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted in a 2022 report.

Until recently, Iraq had resorted to the 1969 penal code to convict members of the LGBTI+ community, relying on an article that provided for “life imprisonment or the imposition of a sentence of several years’ imprisonment” for sodomy.

Rep. Raed al-Maliki, who tabled the amendments, admitted that an earlier parliamentary vote on the bill scheduled for mid-April was postponed so it would “not affect” the visit to the US by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Zia al-Sudani.

“Americans and Europeans reject the law,” he admitted. “But for us this is an internal matter, we refuse any interference.”

“Today we know that Iraqi society rejects homosexuality, but there is a deliberate promotion of a culture that we do not recognize,” he said. “We are concerned about the future and the law is a kind of prevention to protect society.”

For its part, the State Department expressed its “deep concern” about the law, as its spokesman Matthew Miller wrote to X yesterday. He complained that the legislation threatens the most vulnerable people in Iraqi society and “undermines the government’s efforts at economic and political reforms.”