The Negative View of Iraqi Law on the Crimes of Witchcraft and Sorcery

Abstract

Objective: The article aims to highlight the serious crime that the law remained oblivious to it whether in treatment or criminalizing it. Although all monotheistic religions recognize it, the position of the Arab legislator differed from that. Some of them put an explicit text criminalizing witchcraft as a separate offense, and some put it under the crime of fraud, including the Iraqi Penal Code. Methodology: This article explains the nature of witchcraft and the methods used for it, and clarified the effect of witchcraft on the individual and society, and the witchcraft crime in terms of human rights. It will also look at the views of the Islamic religion, in relation to witchcraft and sorcery and the position of the Iraqi legislator and some Arab countries on it. Result and discussion: The crime of witchcraft is an independent crime and cannot be considered a crime of fraud due to the seriousness of its consequences according to the legislation in some Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Conclusions: Man has practiced magic and sorcery throughout the ages, and surprisingly, they are still practicing it in the current era, on a large scale. It submitted that the crime of witchcraft should not be considered as one of the crimes of fraud. It is necessary to put a specific article that applies to the real act (witchcraft and sorcery) and mind it as one of the most dangerous acts that the legislator must face with the harshest penalties.