Iraqi law prohibits Zionism - formerly punishable by death, now life imprisonment

When a group of Iraqis gathered in a conference in Erbil calling for Iraq to normalize relations with Israel, many Iraqi antisemites noted that such a call is against Iraqi law to justify the warrants for the participants' arrests.

Indeed, Iraq does have such a law. 

The Third Edition of the 1969 Iraqi Penal Code, Article 201 states:

Any person who promotes or acclaims Zionist principles including freemasonry or who associates himself with, Zionist organizations or assists them by giving material or moral support or works in any way towards the realization of Zionist objectives is punishable by death.

In 2003, Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 7, Section 3(1) suspended the entire 1969 penal code. But on March 14, 2010, the code was reinstated and amended with nearly all death penalty crimes - including this one - reduced to life imprisonment.

Human Rights Watch does not mention this law in its annual report on Iraqi human rights violations.

---

---