Offenders of same-sex relations in Iraq are now to spend 15 years jail term in prison following its criminalisation by the parliament. 

The decision was reached on Saturday at a session attended by 170 out of the 329 lawmakers in the parliament. 

Also, transgender people would be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law.

Rights groups in Iraq have condemned the development, describing it as an attack on “human rights.”

The group had described a previous draft proposed for capital punishment for same-sex relations, as dangerous escalation.

“The law serves as a preventive measure to protect society from such acts,” lawmaker Raed al-Maliki, who advanced the amendments, told AFP in an interview. 

He said passing the new amendment was postponed until after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani visited the United States of America earlier this month.

The United States of America and the European Union oppose the law and “we didn’t want to impact the visit,” he said. “It is an internal matter and we do not accept any interference in Iraqi affairs.”

Gay and transgender people in Iraq already face frequent attacks and discrimination. 

They had also set a minimum seven-year prison term for “promoting” same-sex relations and a sentence ranging from one to three years for men who “intentionally” act like women.

The amended law makes “biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination” a crime and punishes transgender people and doctors who perform gender-affirming surgery with up to three years in prison.

In Iraq’s conservative society, homosexuality is taboo, although, there had not been a law that explicitly punished same-sex relations.

Members of Iraq’s LGBTQ community have been prosecuted for sodomy or under vague morality and anti-prostitution clauses in Iraq’s penal code.

“Iraq has effectively codified in law the discrimination and violence members of the LGBTI community have been subjected to with absolute impunity for years. 

“The amendments concerning LGBTI rights are a violation of fundamental human rights and put at risk Iraqis whose lives are already hounded daily,” said Amnesty International’s Iraq researcher Razaw Salihy.

Human Rights Watch’s Iraq researcher Sarah Sanbar said the new law “is a horrific development and an attack on human rights.”