The proposed cybercrimes bill returns to the fore after the Iraqi parliament completed the first reading of the draft last week. This makes it the fourth attempt in which political parties seek to pass legislation codifying freedom of expression in the country. Similar attempts ended in vain in 2007, 2012, 2018 and 2019.

Media and human rights circles in Iraq believe that the bill — proposed by the committees of security, defense, legal affairs, education, culture, tourism, human rights, services, reconstruction, communications and media — is the harshest of similar laws in the world as it represses freedom of expression and imposes restrictions on social media sites. On Nov. 26, Human Rights Watch described the draft bill as “yet another tool to suppress dissent,” in violation of international law. For its part, the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights described it as an attempt “to intimidate society.” The Observatory said the draft law was written based on a police state approach, similar to the one adopted by the authorities during the October protests and which was intended to suppress voices opposing it. It denounced the cybercrime law as aiming to stifle “freedoms and rights'' guaranteed in the Iraqi Constitution amid widespread objections by civilians and activists.

The draft is legislation governing the crimes of publication on social media and the misuse of computers and electronic devices that cause harm to others or national security. It defines cybercrimes as “a positive or negative criminal activity involving the use of advanced technology directly or indirectly as a means or goal to carry out an intentional criminal act in the information environment.”

However, some of the articles in the draft angered the Iraqi street, media and even political elites — such as the article requiring a prison sentence of seven to 10 years and a fine against anyone using the internet and a computer with the intention of “assaulting principles and religious, family or social values.​​” The draft states that “whoever incites, aids, agrees or participates with others to commit a crime stipulated in this law” shall be deemed an accomplice to the crime. This is among 21 punitive articles, some of which relate to encroaching on any religious, moral, family, social, or national symbols and values, promoting hate speech and assaulting authorities without clearly defining these concepts. This renders the draft a tool in the hands of the ruling authority to suppress dissent.