According to the EFE news agency, which cites a statement from the Iraqi parliament, the legislative body justifies these changes with the need to "preserve moral decency in Iraqi society from the calls for homosexuality that have invaded the world" and in the face of the "absence of legislation" in the country that "punishes homosexual acts with sufficient deterrence". The acting president of the Lower House, Mohsen al Mandalawi, stated that the approval of the changes "is a necessary step to protect the value structure of society and children, who are called to moral depravity." The changes to the law against prostitution, in force since 1988, were approved in a session attended by 170 of the 329 deputies that make up the Iraqi Chamber. From this moment on, Iraqi law penalizes any consensual homosexual relationship with sentences of between 10 and 15 years in prison, while the promotion of relationships between people of the same sex also carries a sentence of one to three years in prison and a fine. Anyone who undergoes a sex change operation, as well as the doctor who performs it, will be subject to a sentence of one to three years in prison. The law also now provides for punishments for any man who presents "effeminate behaviour". On her social media account X (formerly Twitter), the co-director of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), Rasha Younes, wrote that "the approval by the Iraqi parliament of the anti-LGBT law ratifies the terrible record of rights violations against LGBT people (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) in Iraq." Rasha Younes added that this law "adds more suffering to Iraqi LGBT people who are already victims of systematic violence and threatened in their lives by armed groups", especially of a religious nature. The bill for this amendment was presented in August 2023 by the independent deputy Raad al Maliki and initially stipulated that homosexual relations would be punished with the death penalty or life imprisonment, while the "promotion of homosexuality" would mean a minimum of seven years in prison and a fine. Although consensual sexual relations between people of the same sex were not explicitly criminalized in Iraq, the authorities used arguments of "morality" laws to persecute LGBT people. Also Read: Three dead in drone attack on gas complex in Iraqi Kurdistan (Portuguese version)