Lebanese judges redefine sexual intercourse

A second court ruling was issued considering a transsexual defendant to be innocent after the person was charged with having sexual relations with men.  According to Nizar Sagieh who spoke with L’Orint le Jour, this ruling is of key importance not only in terms of the ways in which the law deals with transsexuals but also in terms of defining clause 534 of the penal code and which penalizes “abnormal sexual intercourse” and which was often use to criminalise homosexuality.
Saghieh notes that Judge Dahdah raised a specific question about the definition of “abnormal sexual intercourse”.  He noted that even of people are different to the norm, they have nevertheless come to life normally.  He also reminded that abnormality basically means not complying with normative behavior of the majority.  Saghieh also remind readers that this court ruling is reminiscent with that of Judge Mounir Suleiman in 2/12/2009, who ruled for the innocence of two homosexuals.  The ruling literally said that “ humans are part of nature and one of its component.  Thus, no human behavior can be considered abnormal or against nature even if it was a criminal conduct as this is part of human norms”.
Saghieh concludes that Judge Dahdah’s ruling which stipulates that the definitions of the penal code are independent from those of monolithic religions as well as his adoption of secular criteria can be considered as jurisprudence.  Saghieh hoped that this will eventually lead to the annulment of clause 534 of the penal code.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 6 March 2014

To be noted that the Legal Agenda had published a report on this verdict in issue 14th of their newsletter, this can be accessed via the following link.