Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Iraqi Islamic Party denies claims it paid woman to make rape allegations
Security, Politics
(McClatchy Newspapers) The case of an Iraqi woman who went on Arabic satellite television last month to charge that three Iraqi policemen raped her continues to roil the country, and government officials are now debating whether to release a video that they say will show the episode was a fabrication. The Shiite Muslim-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki already has called the woman a liar and leaked information to discredit her. Officials have released her name, said she worked as a prostitute in the 1990s and accused her of bigamy.
On Monday, four Iraqi officials said that the woman, who at first was thought to be a Sunni, was a Shiite and that she was detained two days after she made her allegations. Three of the officials said the government has a taped confession from the woman in which she says she was paid by the Iraqi Islamic Party, one of Iraq's most important Sunni organizations, to fabricate the story in an effort to undermine the Baghdad security plan.
None of the officials would speak for attribution because the government is still debating what to do with the video, with some officials voicing concern that releasing it would only inflame sectarian tensions. "The whole thing was orchestrated" to undermine the government, one Iraqi official said. "They paid some broad to mess up our plans ... evil individuals would do such a thing."
The Iraqi Islamic Party denied the accusation. Party spokesman Salim Abdullah told McClatchy Newspapers that the party has evidence implicating high officials in the alleged rape and evidence that proves the woman was sexually assaulted. He added that the party would release the evidence if the criminal case turned into a political fight between the Shiite-led government and Iraq's largest Sunni party.
The debate over the rape charge, which was first aired Feb. 19 on Al-Jazeera satellite television, is a reminder of how difficult it is to separate fact from fiction in a highly charged sectarian atmosphere in which everyone is assumed to be acting only for their own benefit. American officials have declined to say publicly what they know of the case. The woman was treated at an American hospital in the Green Zone, but what that examination showed or even how she came to be in the custody of an American military patrol is not known.
On Monday, four Iraqi officials said that the woman, who at first was thought to be a Sunni, was a Shiite and that she was detained two days after she made her allegations. Three of the officials said the government has a taped confession from the woman in which she says she was paid by the Iraqi Islamic Party, one of Iraq's most important Sunni organizations, to fabricate the story in an effort to undermine the Baghdad security plan.
None of the officials would speak for attribution because the government is still debating what to do with the video, with some officials voicing concern that releasing it would only inflame sectarian tensions. "The whole thing was orchestrated" to undermine the government, one Iraqi official said. "They paid some broad to mess up our plans ... evil individuals would do such a thing."
The Iraqi Islamic Party denied the accusation. Party spokesman Salim Abdullah told McClatchy Newspapers that the party has evidence implicating high officials in the alleged rape and evidence that proves the woman was sexually assaulted. He added that the party would release the evidence if the criminal case turned into a political fight between the Shiite-led government and Iraq's largest Sunni party.
The debate over the rape charge, which was first aired Feb. 19 on Al-Jazeera satellite television, is a reminder of how difficult it is to separate fact from fiction in a highly charged sectarian atmosphere in which everyone is assumed to be acting only for their own benefit. American officials have declined to say publicly what they know of the case. The woman was treated at an American hospital in the Green Zone, but what that examination showed or even how she came to be in the custody of an American military patrol is not known.
Labels: Iraqi Islamic Party, rape case, Salim Abdullah
