International   

Focus shifts to jail abuse of Iraqi women

BAGHDAD, MAY 12. For Huda Shaker, the humiliation began at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Baghdad. The American soldiers demanded to search her handbag. When she refused, one of the soldiers pointed his gun towards her chest.

``He pointed the laser sight directly in the middle of my chest,'' said Professor Shaker, a political scientist at Baghdad University.

The incident is one of a number in which U.S. soldiers are alleged to have abused, intimidated or sexually humiliated Iraqi women.

According to Prof Huda, several women held in Abu Ghraib jail were sexually abused, including one who was raped by an American military policeman and became pregnant. She has now disappeared.

Most of the coverage of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib has focused on Iraqi men. But there is compelling evidence that several female prisoners, who are in a minority at the jail, were abused as well. ``A female colleague of mine was arrested and taken there. When I asked her after she was released what happened at Abu Ghraib she started crying,'' Prof Huda said. ``Ladies here are afraid and shy of talking about such subjects. They say everything is OK.

Even in a very advanced society in the West it is very difficult to talk about rape. But I think it happened.''

Few women released from U.S. detention have come forward to talk about their experiences.

According to the New Yorker magazine, the photos and videos so far unreleased by the Pentagon show American soldiers ``having sex with a female Iraqi prisoner'' and a secret report by General Antonio Taguba into the scandal confirms that U.S. guards videotaped and photographed naked female prisoners and that ``a male MP [military police] guard'' is shown ``having sex with a female detainee''.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• Rocca briefs Pakistan on resolution on Iraq
• Al Sadr ready to disband militia
• U.S. to hand over Saddam to Iraqis
• Focus shifts to jail abuse of Iraqi women
• Suspension to be reviewed
• Koreas to hold nuclear talks
• Agreement averts Cannes protest
• Bush slaps sanctions on Syria
• Probe into abuse in Afghanistan
• Berg was warned to leave Iraq
• Senators view more disturbing photos
• `I was instructed to hold this leash'
• No justification for Berg killing: Bush
• U.S. panel flays Vajpayee

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu