Two draft laws reintroduced by the Iraqi government, if passed, would severely curtail freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Iraq, said Amnesty International in a statement issued on Tuesday.
“The Iraqi authorities’ attempt to repress free expression disregards the sacrifices made by Iraqis during the 2019 uprising. The Iraqi government must withdraw these repressive draft laws immediately, and parliament should not pass legislation that unduly restricts the human rights of Iraqis,” stated Bissan Fakih, Amnesty’s regional campaigner for Iraq and Yemen.
The proposed Law on Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly allows authorities to prosecute individuals for comments violating “public morals” or “public order”. The Law on Cybercrimes criminalises online content undermining the “country’s supreme economic, political, military or security interests” with severe penalties.
The draft also grants the authorities the power to ban public gatherings without prior permission, effectively suppressing protests at their discretion.
The draft laws on restricting free speech and peaceful assembly have been revived at the same time as a crackdown on government critics and the suppression of “indecent content” online, according to human rights groups. The first half of this year saw at least 20 individuals prosecuted for expressing themselves, with six receiving commuted prison sentences.
One case involves journalist Haidar al-Hamdani, who faces criminal defamation charges for accusing the Governor of Basra of corruption in a video shared on Facebook, where he has over a million followers.
In another incident in February, Jassim al-Asadi, a well-known advocate for preservation of the Iraqi marshes, which are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, said he was kidnapped by an armed group and severely tortured after saying that Turkey and Iran were stopping the water needed to keep the marshes alive. He thought he might be killed and believes he owes his life to his family, his tribe and the people who stood up for him.
Iraq is ranked 167th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2023 World Press Freedom Index, placing it even below Russia (164th) and Turkey (165th).
