COVID-19 Latest
World|life|October 24, 2016 / 10:08 AM
Iraq's parliament bans alcohol

AKIPRESS.COM - 77fdf50e82bb4960a649727c2238e12fIraq’s parliament has passed a law forbidding the import, production or selling of alcoholic beverages in a surprise move that angered many in the country’s Christian community who rely on the business, The Guardian reports.

The law, passed late on Saturday night, imposes a fine of up to 25m Iraqi dinars (£17,000) for anyone violating the ban. But it’s unclear how strictly the law would be enforced, and it could be struck down by the supreme court.

Islam forbids the consumption of alcohol, but it has always been available in Iraq’s larger cities, mainly from shops run by Christians. Those shops are currently closed because of the Shia holy month of Muharram.

Iraq’s parliament is dominated by Shia Islamist parties. The assembly announced the ban on its website but did not say how many lawmakers voted for or against it.

The bill was proposed by Mahmoud al-Hassan, a judge and lawmaker from the State of Law coalition, the largest bloc in parliament. He insisted it was inkeeping with article 2 in the constitution, which prohibits any legislation that goes against Islam.

“The constitution preserves democracy and the rights of non-Muslim groups, but these rights must not violate the religion of Islam,” he said. “Some of the lawmakers’ vote was religiously motivated, but many others voted to avoid anything unconstitutional.”

The bill comes as Iraq is waging a massive military operation to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group. Isis brutally enforces a ban on alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs in the territory under its control.

All rights reserved

© AKIpress News Agency - 2001-2024.

Republication of any material is prohibited without a written agreement with AKIpress News Agency.

Any citation must be accompanied by a hyperlink to akipress.com.

Our address:

299/5 Chingiz Aitmatov Prosp., Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic

e-mail: english@akipress.org, akipressenglish@gmail.com;

Follow us:

Log in


Forgot your password? - recover

Not registered yet? - sign-up

Sign-up

I have an account - log in

Password recovery

I have an account - log in