Joseph Sylawa, a Christian member of parliament with the Warka bloc, told Al-Monitor the ban on alcohol is part of a war against religious minorities that aims to force them out of the country through exclusion, marginalization and harassment policies.
Others also challenge the law.
"This is an unprecedented, dangerous and controversial law," said Mona Yako, a law professor at the University of Salahuddin in Erbil and an activist defending the rights of minorities. "It is a clear indicator of the nature of the conflict between those who support applying the Islamic Sharia and those who support a civil state."
Some activists believe the law is a step toward the Islamization of a state that was destined to be a pluralistic model in the Middle East.
Abbas Sharifi, a member of the Civic Center for Studies and Legal Reform in Baghdad, told Al-Monitor, “[We] are truly afraid for how the civil state, agreed upon in the constitution, is going to be. [We] fear this tight grip on personal freedom would be a prelude toward altering the state’s laws to apply Sharia law, such as in Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
Dia al-Shukurji, a former Dawa Party leader, focused on the role of Sharia, which the constitution stipulates as the primary source of legislation. He told Al-Monitor, “We knew how critical this [point] was. Ever since the [current] constitution was first written [in 2005], it was obvious that it was going to [be the grounds for] constant conflicts with those who support the Islamization of the state.”
Shukurji, who was a member of the committee that wrote the constitution, was one of the first to object to including the stipulation. According to his memoirs, “A Quarter of a Century with Political Islam,” his opposition led to his resignation from the ruling Islamic Dawa Party.
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