BAGHDAD, Feb. 21, 2007
Sunni Woman's Rape Claim Roils Iraq
Woman Claims She Was Raped By Iraqi Police, U.S. Investigating After Political Backlash
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A woman who claims she was raped by three members if the Iraqi police force talks to members of the press in Baghdad on Feb. 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Asaad Mouhsin)
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Iraqis gather to inspect human remains inside a wreck of a car destroyed in a car bomb attack in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, on Feb. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
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A man injured in a suicide bomber attack lies in Baghdad's al-Kindi hospital on Feb. 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
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But Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell refused to disclose details of her medical treatment or examination, citing privacy issues.
"What I can tell you is that at a point on Sunday evening, an Iraqi woman was brought to our medical facility. She was put under the care of our medical personnel there and sometime early Monday morning she was released," he said.
The revelation has stunned Iraq, where rape is rarely discussed in public — much less by the victim herself on a prominent television station. With Shiite leaders calling her charges propaganda and Sunni politicians offering the woman support, the disclosure has threatened to worsen sectarian violence.
The 20-year-old Sunni woman said she was assaulted Sunday at a police garrison where she was taken on suspicion of helping Sunni insurgents. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office Wednesday released what it said was a medical report issued by Ibn Sina hospital indicating no signs of rape.
The report, in English, was e-mailed to news organizations by al-Maliki's office. The grainy document was marked as page two of three and did not have the name of the patients or any of her personal details. A handwritten note in English said she had no bruises or injuries.
Caldwell said the Americans had not released any information about the case out of respect for patient privacy.
"She was released with her medical records. What she does with those is her own decision," he said.
Caldwell also told reporters that Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has ordered a probe into the case and appointed an investigating officer who already has begun collecting information on the allegations, made in interviews broadcast Monday by several Arab satellite TV stations.
"Once the Iraqi government makes a decision on how they are going to move forward (and) there is an investigating judicial process established and they need this information from us, we will make that readily available to them," he said.
In other developments:
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