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Stories of rape committed by both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have
appeared since the early days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The first
stories emerged from inside Abu Ghraib prison. These, along with
photographic evidence of sexual humiliation, provoked widespread anger
across Iraq.
Rape victims in Iraq rarely come forward because
they fear public scorn and humiliation. A Muslim woman who acknowledges
being raped risks death at the hands of male relatives seeking to
restore family honour.
Dr. Harith al-Dhari, secretary-general of
the Sunni religious group The Association of Muslim Scholars, told
reporters this week that rapes take place often, but victims are not
coming forward to file complaints.
But since Janabi went public with her story, other stories of rape have begun to emerge.
BAGHDAD, Mar 1 (IPS) - Reports of the gang-rape of 20-year-old
Sabrine al-Janabi by three policemen has set off new demands for
justice from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.
Janabi,
who lives in the Hai al-Amil area of southern Baghdad with her husband,
was taken from her home Feb. 18 to a police station and accused of
assisting resistance fighters.
Janabi told al-Jazeera channel
Feb. 19 that three police commandos raped her in the police garrison
after accusing her of cooking for resistance fighters.
"One of
them put his hand on my mouth so no one outside the room could hear
me," she said in a videotaped statement. "I told them 'I did not know
that an Iraqi could do this to another Iraqi'."
She said "I
begged them not to rape me and I swore to them that I was a good woman
and I am like a sister to them, but they did it one after the other."
Nouri
al-Maliki's office issued a statement that medical evidence showed
Janabi had not been raped. That statement has turned the event into a
political crisis.
Janabi is Sunni, and the police predominantly
Shia. Sunnis have long accused the police of using heavy-handed tactics
against Sunnis during "security operations." But this incident appears
to be highlighting widespread displeasure with the Iraqi government at
least as much as stoking strained sectarian tensions.
Maliki's
office described Janabi as "a liar" and recommended that the three
accused policeman be commended, in response to demands for an
independent investigation from both Shia and Sunni opposition groups.
The New York Times reported that an Iraqi nurse who says she treated Janabi saw signs of sexual and physical assault.
Stories
of rape committed by both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have appeared since
the early days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The first stories
emerged from inside Abu Ghraib prison. These, along with photographic
evidence of sexual humiliation, provoked widespread anger across Iraq.
Rape
victims in Iraq rarely come forward because they fear public scorn and
humiliation. A Muslim woman who acknowledges being raped risks death at
the hands of male relatives seeking to restore family honour.
Dr.
Harith al-Dhari, secretary-general of the Sunni religious group The
Association of Muslim Scholars, told reporters this week that rapes
take place often, but victims are not coming forward to file complaints.
But since Janabi went public with her story, other stories of rape have begun to emerge.
On
Feb. 22 a 50-year-old Sunni woman accused four Iraqi soldiers of raping
her and attempting to rape her two daughters. She took her story to
minister Izzidin Dola, who then brought the mayor of her city and a
group of tribal chiefs to her home in order to take her statement.
"At least four police officers participated in that crime and they are facing legal procedures," Dola told IPS.
"The
Iraqi police are following the example of those who trained them,"
Ahmed Mukhtar, a school headmaster in the northern Iraqi city Mosul
told IPS. "American soldiers did it more than a thousand times and got
away with it. They sentenced that soldier who killed Abeer after raping
her with a hundred years imprisonment, but we Iraqis are not fools, and
we know he will be on parole sooner than he hopes."
Mukhtar was
referring to the gang rape of 14-year-old Abeer al-Janabi last year
near Mahmudiya south of Baghdad. Janabi was then killed together with
her parents and younger sister. Soldiers then burnt the bodies in an
attempt to cover their crime.
Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, was
sentenced Feb. 23 to 100 years in prison, but is eligible for parole in
10 years. Cortez pleaded guilty to the rape and killing.
Iraqi
resistance groups have issued statements declaring that the Iraqi
police and soldiers involved in recent rapes would be given "proper
punishment."
(Ali al-Fadhily is our Baghdad correspondent. Dahr
Jamail is our specialist writer who spent eight months reporting from
inside Iraq, and has been covering the Middle East for several years)
Writings 
Stories of rape committed by both U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have
appeared since the early days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The first
stories emerged from inside Abu Ghraib prison. These, along with
photographic evidence of sexual humiliation, provoked widespread anger
across Iraq.
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