The Law

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Abstract

ACROSS the Arab world, homosexual conduct is criminalised. Penalties vary: imprisonment is the most common, capital punishment features too. Of particular concern are the penalties under sharia law, in operation in many countries, which include death by stoning or flogging. (Sharia has four different schools and many different interpretations: it’s not clear that all of them actually penalise homosexual conduct per se or that death is the penalty laid down in all the schools.) Only Jordan has legalised homosexual sex for both men and women, but it is by no means clear that the country is free of discrimination against people who desire people of the same sex. All penalties cited are maximum penalties.