Journalist jailed for writing about homosexuality

Iraq is of course a beacon of democracy and happiness these days where children smile all day long and the women do nothing but attend seminars to discuss the writings of Germaine Greer. Sadly all is not well in this garden paradise though.

Adel Hussein, a journalist in northern Iraq, has just been fined and sentanced to six months in jail for "violating public decency" by writing about homosexuality.

Adel's editor, Kamal Raouf, said "What was written by the detained journalist was a scientific article and it was not aimed at encouraging homosexuality... The article showed the positive and the negative aspects of homosexuality, but the court looked into one angle and it considered the subject as unethical... Sex education articles should not be judged according to the standards of public decency".

Reporters Without Borders said in a statement "We are astonished to learn that a press case has been tried under the criminal code. What was the point of adopting - and then liberalizing - a press code in the Kurdistan region if people who contribute to the news media are still be tried under more repressive laws". Well, quite.

Unfortunately in Iraq it isn't just illegal to talk about the existance of homosexuality, being gay can bring a death sentence as the blog Iraqi LGBT makes clear, as does this nine minute youtube video which tells some of the stories of being gay in Iraq.