Official Name: Republic of Iraq
Population: 29,267,000
Capital: Baghdad - Pop. 6,500,000
Area: 438,317 sq. km. / 272,358 sq. miles.
Language: Arabic, Kurdish
Religion: Shiite and Sunni Muslim, Christian
Status of Homosexuality: Not illegal - uncertain
Telephone Country Code: 964
Homosexuality was legal in Iraq under Saddam Hussein until late 2001, when under pressure from religious conservatives he criminalised the act of sodomy. A law passed in 2001 made sodomy punishable by imprisonment, and repeated convictions punishable by death. It should be noted however that despite the change in law there where no known cases in which the death penalty was applied for the offence by Iraqi Courts. Hussein had previously refused to criminalise homosexuality, as it went against the Secular Socialist beliefs of the Ba'ath Party[citation needed]. The legal status of homosexuality remains something in dispute in a post-Saddam Iraq. Homosexuality is not technically illegal in Iraq, but it is taboo. As of 2008, Iraq is in a de facto state of civil war and some militias have been known to seek out and kill homosexuals and transgender Iraqis. Also see: Islam and Homosexuality
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