Post by Abu 'Ata on Jul 11, 2006 22:12:59 GMT -5
US Soldiers Charged with the Savage Rape and Murder of Iraqi Woman
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
US Soldiers Charged with the Savage Rape and Murder of Iraqi Woman
London, UK, July 11th - On July 9th, four US soldiers were charged with the savage rape and murder of an Iraqi woman in the town of Mahmoudiya, south of Bagdad this March. They stand accused of conspiring with former soldier Steven Green who was charged with the same crime last week. According to Reuter's News Agency, the victim was only 14 years old. Affidavit statements from other soldiers in his unit stated that, Steven Green also executed in cold blood the victim's parents and her 5 year old sister. The soldiers are then alleged to have tried to set fire to the bodies. The accused are from the 101st Airbourne division, an elite US army unit.
This heinous crime is only one of numerous cases involving the sexual abuse of Iraqi women by US forces in Iraq. Women were also victims of the Abu Ghraib scandal where they were forced to undress in front of male guards, photographed naked and raped. Young girls are frisked by soldiers at checkpoints and there have been many allegations of rape of Iraqi women. Last year, soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Brigade were investigated for raping two women while on guard duty in a Baghdad shopping precinct. The incident was investigated by US army officials but transcripts of the investigation indicated only the most superficial attempts to establish the truth behind the allegations. Jameel Jaffar, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union which has long struggled for the Pentagon to release documents of its investigations, commented that the failure to conduct a thorough investigation on serious charges such as rape was part of a disturbing pattern. Despite familiar rhetoric from the US government of a vigorous investigation into these latest charges, many believe that the rape and murder of the 14 year old will simply disappear as another statistic in US army files.
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, the Womens' Media Representative of Hizb-ut-Tahrir Britain commented, "The rape of Iraqi women has become nothing but a simple inconvenience in the War on Terror. To assume that the Pentagon will take these latest investigations seriously, assumes that the US government still carries regard for morality, justice, the worth of human life, and the rights of Iraqi women. This is frankly laughable considering that tens of thousands of women have died in this war, maternity hospitals destroyed, pregnant women gunned down by US forces, and that Coalition authorities have turned a blind eye to the increase in abductions, rapes and human trafficking of women and girls following the occupation. Iraq has become an open prison for the woman. Furthermore, these incidents reflect the total redundancy of the Iraqi government, unable to prosecute US soldiers charged with the sexual abuse of Iraqi women on Iraqi soil."
"The call for "Women's liberation" in the Muslim world by Western governments has long been a smokescreen to advance their colonial economic and strategic interests in the area. Their support of the Northern Alliance, notorious gang rapists, while advocating the liberation of Afghani women illustrates the true regard that these governments have towards women's rights. Their alliance with dictatorial regimes in the Arab world who deny Muslim women their political and economic rights have illustrated that ‘Women's liberation’ is expendable for oil interests. As Muslim women, we continue to advocate the return of the Caliphate state that will secure the woman's educational, economic, judicial, and political rights, Muslim and non-Muslim alike and illustrate the true regard of honour by which every woman should be held."
[Ends]
CONTACT:
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
Email: press@hizb.org.uk
Web: www.hizb.org.uk/pressnew
Phone: 07074-192400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
US Soldiers Charged with the Savage Rape and Murder of Iraqi Woman
London, UK, July 11th - On July 9th, four US soldiers were charged with the savage rape and murder of an Iraqi woman in the town of Mahmoudiya, south of Bagdad this March. They stand accused of conspiring with former soldier Steven Green who was charged with the same crime last week. According to Reuter's News Agency, the victim was only 14 years old. Affidavit statements from other soldiers in his unit stated that, Steven Green also executed in cold blood the victim's parents and her 5 year old sister. The soldiers are then alleged to have tried to set fire to the bodies. The accused are from the 101st Airbourne division, an elite US army unit.
This heinous crime is only one of numerous cases involving the sexual abuse of Iraqi women by US forces in Iraq. Women were also victims of the Abu Ghraib scandal where they were forced to undress in front of male guards, photographed naked and raped. Young girls are frisked by soldiers at checkpoints and there have been many allegations of rape of Iraqi women. Last year, soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Brigade were investigated for raping two women while on guard duty in a Baghdad shopping precinct. The incident was investigated by US army officials but transcripts of the investigation indicated only the most superficial attempts to establish the truth behind the allegations. Jameel Jaffar, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union which has long struggled for the Pentagon to release documents of its investigations, commented that the failure to conduct a thorough investigation on serious charges such as rape was part of a disturbing pattern. Despite familiar rhetoric from the US government of a vigorous investigation into these latest charges, many believe that the rape and murder of the 14 year old will simply disappear as another statistic in US army files.
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz, the Womens' Media Representative of Hizb-ut-Tahrir Britain commented, "The rape of Iraqi women has become nothing but a simple inconvenience in the War on Terror. To assume that the Pentagon will take these latest investigations seriously, assumes that the US government still carries regard for morality, justice, the worth of human life, and the rights of Iraqi women. This is frankly laughable considering that tens of thousands of women have died in this war, maternity hospitals destroyed, pregnant women gunned down by US forces, and that Coalition authorities have turned a blind eye to the increase in abductions, rapes and human trafficking of women and girls following the occupation. Iraq has become an open prison for the woman. Furthermore, these incidents reflect the total redundancy of the Iraqi government, unable to prosecute US soldiers charged with the sexual abuse of Iraqi women on Iraqi soil."
"The call for "Women's liberation" in the Muslim world by Western governments has long been a smokescreen to advance their colonial economic and strategic interests in the area. Their support of the Northern Alliance, notorious gang rapists, while advocating the liberation of Afghani women illustrates the true regard that these governments have towards women's rights. Their alliance with dictatorial regimes in the Arab world who deny Muslim women their political and economic rights have illustrated that ‘Women's liberation’ is expendable for oil interests. As Muslim women, we continue to advocate the return of the Caliphate state that will secure the woman's educational, economic, judicial, and political rights, Muslim and non-Muslim alike and illustrate the true regard of honour by which every woman should be held."
[Ends]
CONTACT:
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
Email: press@hizb.org.uk
Web: www.hizb.org.uk/pressnew
Phone: 07074-192400