Earlier this week, a Canadian British antiwar activist journalist writing in the Observer cited "Iraq Penal Code Section 111" for the proposition that not only is there a religious honor killing exception to Iraq's laws against murder, but the killing homosexuals is considered honor killing. In trying to find the statute, I provided this link to the Iraqi Penal Code (which is being used in current criminal proceedings), as well as a link to another version in Arabic.

Now, thanks to the invaluable Clayton Cramer, I'm closer to the answer to a seemingly unsolvable problem. Mr. Cramer has found a specific State Department reference to an "Article 111" added by Saddam Hussein in 1990, which deals with honor killings:

Murder. In 1990, Saddam Hussein introduced Article 111 into the Iraqi Penal Code in a calculated effort to strengthen tribal support for his regime. This law exempts men who kill their female relatives in defense of their family's honor from prosecution and punishment. The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women reported that more than 4,000 women have been victims of so-called "honor killings" since Article 111 went into effect. (UN Commission on Human Rights, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, January 2002)

Mr. Cramer also cites this from the State Department:

Article 1 of the Iraqi Penal Code No. 111 of 1969, however, mandates that criminal penalties can only be imposed by law. Thus, despite the Shari'a punishment for conversion, the Iraqi penal code does not import the Shari'a penalty, nor does it contain a similar penalty. The Law of Civil Affairs No. 65 of 1972 explicitly allows non-Muslims to convert to Islam.

THIRD EDITION

NO (111) 1969
PENAL CODE

In the name of the people
The Presidency

Based on the provisions of the fiftieth article of the temporary constitution and derived from the submissions. of the minister of Justice and what has been approved by the council of ministers and ratified by the Revolutionary Command Council.

The Code attests the following:

That explains why I'm not seeing "Section 111" anywhere.

But it still does not explain the unreferenced text.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: In 2002, an "Article 111" allowing honor killing of women was described as "repealed."

In another report the article is described as not repealed, and is actually quoted:

So-called “honor killing,” the murder of a family member by a relative to protect the family’s reputation, often occurs in Iraq when a man is believed to be gay, according to the Human Rights Ministry.

Article 111 of the Iraqi Penal Code exempts from prosecution and punishment men who kill other men or female relatives in defense of their family’s honor.

“He who discovers his wife, one of his female relatives committing adultery or a male relative engaged in sodomy and kills, wounds or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty,” the law states.

Fifteen cases of honor killings have been reported in the past two years for crimes against homosexuals in the capital alone, according to a Baghdad-based lawyers’ association.

MORE: Here's another version of "Article 111":

In 1990, Article 111 was introduced into the Iraqi penal code; the decree reduced prison sentences from eight years to no more than six months for men who kill their female relatives and plead family “honor” as justification, thus reviving the practice of “honor killings,” which had been on a decline in Iraq.4

MORE: It's probably worth pointing out that according to SodomyLaws.org, "sodomy" per se is not a criminal offense in Iraq:

Homosexual behaviour between consenting adults is not an offence under Iraq's Penal Code. However homosexuality is taboo, and there is no visible support for lesbian and gay rights. (PB).

Under Article 395 of the 1969 Penal Code, the age of consent to sodomy was set at 18. Where the minor is between 15 and 18 years old and does not resist the act, the adult may be punished with imprisonment of up to 7 years. Where the minor is 14 years or below, the punishment is a maximum of 10 years. (Schmitt and Sofer - "Sexuality and Eroticism among Males in Moslem Societies")’

[This information predates the U.S. Invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. I have not found any information of changes in the law under the new governments. -Bob]

AND MORE: In case anyone understands who Arabic might be able to help, I have uploaded the Arabic version of the Code of Criminal Procedure (PDF file).

Regardless of whether there is or was a "Section 111," "Article 111" or "Number 111", or whether it has been repealed, by most accounts, it dates from 1990.

What I fail utterly to see is how this alleged law (or the abominable behavior of certain Iraqis in killing women or homosexuals) can in any way be construed an argument against the Iraq War.

If anything, it means the job is not over.

MORE: It gets more and more muddled. A very confusing Wikipedia article cites not "Article 111," but a purported "Paragraph 111" (followed by a "citation needed" caveat), but also states that there has been a "reversal of the criminal code back to its original 1969 status." The 1969 code is the one claimed to be current by the U.S. Judge Advocate General Corps, and it is the one I have made available here. I've read through the code, and see no mention whatsoever of the section, article, and paragraph no one can find.

My tentative conclusion is that without a citation, it does not exist. (Whether it ever existed other than in the minds of activists who claimed it did is a subject for debate.)

In any event no such provision appears to be legally in effect.

Unless the Observer's Jennifer Copestake can provide a definite link to the statute, I'm going to consider her claim that there is one to be unsubstantiated.

(Quite coincidentally, there is [or might be -- if you can believe anything anymore] an "Article 111" in the IRAN Penal Code which prohibits sodomy.)