FILE PHOTO: An Iraqi national flag is seen near Iraqi embassy ahead of a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden July 20, 2023. TT News Agency/Caisa Rasmussen via REUTERS/File Photo
(Reuters) - Iraq's official media regulator on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term "homosexuality" and instead to say "sexual deviance," the regulator said.
The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) said in a statement that the use of the term "gender" was also banned. It prohibited all phone and internet companies licensed by it from using the terms in any of their mobile applications.
The regulator "directs media organisations ... not to use the term 'homosexuality' and to use the correct term 'sexual deviance'," the Arabic-language statement said.
A government spokesperson said a penalty for violating the rule had not yet been set but could include a fine.
Iraq does not explicitly criminalise gay sex but loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code have been used to target members of the LGBT community.
Major Iraqi parties have in the past two months stepped up criticism of LGBT rights, with rainbow flags frequently being burned in protests by Shi'ite Muslim factions opposed to recent Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.
More than 60 countries criminalise gay sex, while same-sex sexual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data.
(This story has been refiled to remove picture)
(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Iraq and Omar Abdel-Razek in Cairo; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
