Iraq bans production and sale of alcohol

BAGDAD – The ban on the production, purchase, and sale of alcohol in Iraq has become effective February 20. Violation of the law means a fine between 10 million Iraqi dinars (USD 6,850) and 25 million dinars (USD 17,140), the Official Gazette reports.

Iraq has many production sites for alcohol, in Bagdad, Mosul and in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The country is one of the larger alcohol producers in the Middle East, and sales were possible in many places.

In 2016, the Iraqi parliament also voted to ban the production of alcohol. However, that bill was taken off the table after fierce protests from political parties.

Iraq is a country with several non-Muslim minorities. Under the Ba’ath regime of dictator Saddam Hussein, Muslims were forbidden to sell alcohol. Many of the alcohol stores were owned by Yazidis and Christians – often Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians. This was also the reason why terrorist Muslim extremists targeted Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian alcohol outlets after the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein, often resulting in violent attacks or bombings and in Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian deaths.