<<They're still locking up homosexuals in Iraq. The recent amnesty proposal would allow for the release of suspected terrorists and murderers, but would not allow the release of homosexuals.
<<That's not persecution?>>
I said "officially" there's no persecution and I put "officially" in quotes for a reason. Sure there is persecution in Iraq, persecution for religious and political reasons across the board. I wasn't actually aware of persecution of GLBT in Iraq, though, official or unofficial. You sure you are not thinking of Iran, fatman? Iran has some of the most barbaric laws in the world regarding the GLBT community - - about a year ago, they publicly hanged two teenage boys from a crane for homosexuality.
In Canadian law it does make a difference if the persecution is official or not. If the discriminatory law is on the books, the victim is (unless there's some other problem) home free as a refugee claimant. But if the persecution is unofficial, he or she has to prove that redress was sought by complaining to the proper authorities about the illegal persecution and that the authorities turned their backs on the guy and refused to help. Or else that people who had made similar complaints tended to wind up dead at the hands of unknown assailants.
I apologize MT, I didn't realize that you were speaking of official policy, I had thought it was more of a blanket statement. Anyways, I also had a couple things wrong in my post, evidently they still aren't allowing murderers out. And yes, this is in Iraq and I am aware of the despicable policies in Iran. Google "Iraq gay" and you'll see quite a bit about militia squads targeting homosexuals also. It kind of leads me to wonder which direction we should take in this war, on one hand I'd like to pull out if the government is locking up gays, on the other, I'd rather stay in so that the militias don't kill off every homosexual in Iraq. Here's the full text of the amnesty bill that passed in Iraq, preceded by a (what I think) pretty good blog report:
Full text of Iraq's recently passed amnesty law
Iraq's new amnesty law was passed on February 13 by Iraq's parliament as part of a package of three bills (the other two were a provincial elections law and the 2008 budget). Iraq's Presidency Council ratified the amnesty law last week, so it is now set to become the official law of the land. This law was one of the U.S. benchmarks, and its ratification is important.
When this legislative package was originally passed, Ambassador Crocker and Gen. Petraeus described the provincial powers law as a ?landmark law? in which ?Iraqi legislators have reached an historic compromise.? Of course, Crocker, Petraeus, and the rest of the Bush crew ended up with egg on their faces when the provincial election law was vetoed by Iraq's Presidency Council on February 27.
Iraq's amnesty law was meant to provide "limited" amnesty, and differs markedly from the Chieu Hoi "surrender" program during Vietnam, which was basically an American-administered effort to alter the perception of Viet Cong guerrillas from freedom fighters to common criminals, and then to release them back into the Vietnamese population hoping they would help evaporate the ocean of popular support in which guerrillas swim, to use Mao's famous metaphor. Although the United States undoubtedly pressured Iraq to pass the amnesty law, it does not have the ostensible stamp of American propaganda efforts that Chieu Hoi had.
Although, as Cora Sol Goldstein wrote and I blogged about, U.S. public diplomacy and "information control" failures have been criminal since March 2003, and maybe a little more propaganda in Iraq and a little less propaganda here in the states would be a good thing.
Couldn't help but be troubled by Article 2 (H): people guilty of "crimes" of homosexuality are not eligible for amnesty? I am sympathetic to cultural relativist arguments, although I don't buy into the majority of them, but homosexuals are persecuted badly in Iraq. In 2006, Iraqi police killed a 14 year old boy for being homosexual, and Grand Ayatollah Sistani issued a fatwa on his website calling for the execution of gays in the "worst, most severe way."
I know that Iraq's legal system and governance, if it is to have any chance of succeeding, must be authentically and indigenously Iraqi; otherwise, the Iraqi government will be perceived as nothing more than a puppet for the United States. But this bit about homosexuality in the amnesty law is troubling, and perhaps Ambassador Crocker should have tried to run a bit of interference.
Text of the amnesty law follows.
Law number (19) for the year 2008
The Amnesty Law
Article 1
A general amnesty applies on convicted Iraqis and on (convicted) people who were residing in Iraq, for the time remaining in sentences. They are released in compliance with a provision stated by the committee that has been formed in accordance with Article 5 of this law.
Article 2
The following (individuals) are excepted from of the provision of Article 1 of this law:
First: Those sentenced to death in accordance with the Iraqi penal law number 111 of the year 1969.
Second: People who are convicted of the following crimes:
A. The crimes provided for in Paragraph 2 of the Article 1 of the Iraqi High Criminal Court law, number 10 of the year 2005.
B. Terrorist crimes,
if they caused a death or permanent disability.
C. Crimes of voluntary killing.
D. Crimes of involuntary manslaughter in which those related (to the crime) people refuse to abandon their personal rights.
E. Crimes of abducting people.
F. Crimes of theft associated with aggravating circumstances.
G. Crimes of embezzlement of state funds or despoiling of them.
H. Crimes of rape or of
homosexuality.
I. Crimes of incest.
J. Crimes of counterfeiting Iraqi or foreign currency or of forging official documents.
K. Crimes (related to) drugs.
L. Crimes of trafficking in artifacts.
M. Crimes which are laid out by the Military Penal Law, number 19 of the year 2007.
Article 3
A. Conclusive cessation of the legal procedures taken against the accused people in all crimes, with the exception to the crimes that are mentioned in Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of this law, whether their cases are in investigation stage or trial stage, (as well as) the release of detainees by the decree of the committee to be formed in according with Article 5 of this law.
B. The committee which is to be formed in accordance with Article 5 of this law must release any detainees who have been held for more than six months and who have not been brought before the investigating magistrate, or (the detainees for whom) more than a year has passed since their arrest and (their case) has not been referred to the relevant court.
Article 4
If any individual who received amnesty in accordance with the provision of this commits a premeditated crime from the crimes mentioned in Article 2 of this law within five years from the date of amnesty, the penalties for the crime for which he received amnesty will be implemented, and punitive procedures will be taken against him even if the individual received amnesty while he is in a trial or in the investigating stage.
Article 5
First: The formation of a committee or more by an order from the president of the Supreme Judicial Council in each area of appeal, presided over by judge of the first class, and with the membership of three judges to be in charge of executing the provisions of this law. One of the members of the public prosecution, to be called the Chief Public Prosecutor, represents (the prosecution) before the committee.
Second: The individuals covered by the provisions of Articles 1 and 3 of this law, or their relatives, have the right to submit an application to the committee formed in accordance with Article 5 of this law to take into consideration the possibility of having the amnesty law covering their cases, and the committee is obligated to consider these requests.
Third: The committee formed in accordance with Paragraph A of this article is responsible for vetting the files of the individuals who have been covered under this law, and for issuing its decisions in accordance (with the provisions of this law), and its decisions are subject to challenge before the appeals court of the area, according to its discretion.
Article 6
The Iraqi government is committed to take the necessary measures to move the arrested people from the prisons of the Multinational Forces to the Iraqi prisons to implement the provisions of this law to their cases.
Article 7
The provisions of this law applied on crimes that occurred before its implementation.
Article 8
The Supreme Judicial Council to issue instructions to facilitate the executing of the provisions of this law.
Article 9
This law is to be published in the official newspaper and to be effective starting with the date of its issue.
Motives and reasons
For the purpose of allowing the opportunity, to those Iraqis or those residing in Iraq, who strayed to commit certain crimes, to return to the right, and to join the social life, and (for the purpose of) spreading the spirit of forgiveness and to reform those who strayed from the straight path by granting them amnesty, to allow all the Iraqi people to build their homeland, and to set free those convicted or detained because of their committing of crimes covered by the amnesty, this law is passed.
Iraqi insider
