Homosexuality was legal in Iraq under Saddam Hussein until late 2001, when under pressure from religious conservatives he criminalized the act of sodomy. A law passed in 2001 made sodomy punishable by imprisonment, and repeated convictions punishable by death. It should be noted however that despite the change in law there where no known cases in which the death penalty was applied for the offense by Iraqi Courts. Hussein had previously refused to criminalize homosexuality, as it went against the Secular Socialist beliefs of the Ba'ath Party (resource?).