WORLD / Middle East

Iraqi demands justice in rape case
(AP)
Updated: 2006-07-04 19:48

Iraq's justice minister demanded Tuesday that the UN Security Council ensure that a group of US troops are punished for allegedly raping and murdering a young Iraqi and killing three members of her family, calling the attack "monstrous and inhuman."

Two women legislators also called for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to be summoned to parliament to give assurances the US soldiers would be punished for the March 12 attack on the family in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.


In this photo provided by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office, Steven D. Green is shown in A booking mug shot at the Mecklenburg County jail in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, July 3, 2006. [AP]

The attack was among the worst in a series of cases of US troops accused of killing and abusing Iraqi civilians. Iraq's largest newspaper, Azzaman, said in an editorial Tuesday the rape "summarizes what has been going in Iraq for the past years not only by the American occupation army, but also by some Iraqi groups."

Former private Steven D. Green appeared in federal court in North Carolina on Monday to face murder and rape charges. At least four other US soldiers still in Iraq are under investigation for the slayings, and the military has stressed it taking the allegations seriously.

"If this act actually happened, it constitutes an ugly and unethical crime, monstrous and inhuman," said Justice Minister Hashim Abdul-Rahman al-Shebli al-Shebli, a Sunni Arab. "The Iraqi judiciary should be informed about this investigation which should be conducted under supervision of international and human organizations. Those involved should face justice."

"The ugliness of this crime demands a swift intervention of the UN Security Council to stop these violations of human rights and to condemn them so that they will not happen again," he added.

The two lawmakers, Safiya al-Suhail and Ayda al-Sharif, said condemning the attack was not enough.

"We demand severe punishment for the five soldiers involved," al-Sharif said. "Denouncements are not enough. If this act has taken place in another country, the world would have turned upside down."

Al-Suhail said al-Maliki should appear before parliament "to make sure investigations are taking place."

Mahmoudiya Mayor Mouayad Fadhil said Iraqi authorities have started their own investigation and that he had asked the hospital where the victims were taken for more details.

According to a federal affidavit, Green and three other soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division had talked about raping the young woman, whom they first saw while working at a traffic checkpoint near her home.


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