BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq’s parliament passed a bill on Saturday criminalizing same-sex relations, imposing a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, in a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights.”

Transgender people will be sentenced to three years in jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 out of 329 lawmakers.

A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations, in what campaigners had called a “dangerous” escalation.

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The US State Department is “deeply concerned” about the legislation, spokesman Matt Miller said Saturday, adding that the law threatens those most at risk in Iraqi society and “undermines the government’s political and economic reform efforts.”

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