Last Updated: Monday, 04 June 2012, 13:21 GMT

Title	Iraq: Legality of a business selling liquor in the area controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Northern Iraq (2001-2002)
Publisher	Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Country	Iraq
Publication Date	7 February 2003
Citation / Document Symbol	IRQ40962.E
Reference	2
Cite as	Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iraq: Legality of a business selling liquor in the area controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Northern Iraq (2001-2002), 7 February 2003, IRQ40962.E, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3f7d4db12d.html [accessed 4 June 2012]
Disclaimer	This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Iraq: Legality of a business selling liquor in the area controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Northern Iraq (2001-2002)

The following information was provided by a representative of the Canadian office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The representative confirmed that a business selling liquor is legally allowed to function in the area controlled by the PUK in Northern Iraq. He also stated that clubs and bars operate in that region.

Two articles, one from 4 November 2001 and the other from 20 November 2002, report that it is illegal in Iraq to drink alcohol in public (Manchester Guardian Weekly 20 Nov. 2002; The Providence Journal-Bulletin 4 Nov. 2001). They also note that "drinking alcohol anywhere, and at any time, is a grave sin according to Islamic law" (ibid.). However, both articles report of stores in Baghdad selling alcohol (ibid.; Manchester Guardian Weekly 20 Nov. 2002).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Manchester Guardian Weekly. 20 November 2002. Philippe Broussard. "Retail Therapy Divides Baghdad's Population." (Nexis)

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kitchener, Canada. 4 January 2003. Telephone interview with a representative of the regional office.

The Providence Journal - Bulletin. 4 November 2001. Randall Richard. "Iraq - A Decade of War - The First of Five Parts: She Returns Home to Find a Starvation of the Soul." (Nexis)

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

Internet sites, including:

BBC

Kurdish Human Rights Watch (KRHW)

Middle East Daily

Middle East Intelligence Bulletin

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)

World News (WN) Middle East

Search engines, including:

Google

Yahoo

Topics: Kurd,

Copyright notice: This document is published with the permission of the copyright holder and producer Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). The original version of this document may be found on the offical website of the IRB at http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/. Documents earlier than 2003 may be found only on Refworld.

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