Rape row splits Iraqi government

Hail Georgie LIBERATION of the children and women of Iraq

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Allegations that Iraqi police enforcing the new Baghdad security plan raped a Sunni woman have sparked a bitter dispute at the highest levels of the state.

In a sign of the deep rifts within Iraq's so-called unity government, the office of the Shiite prime minister dismissed the claim Tuesday, while an aide to the Sunni vice president said it appeared to be true.

The rape allegation surfaced Monday when a Sunni religious body accused police of raping a woman called Sabrin al-Janabi, who repeated the charge herself in an interview with the satellite television network Al-Jazeera.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office initially promised a full inquiry then, just four hours later issued a second statement formally denying the allegations and ordering that the accused officers be commended.

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Rape row ramps up Iraqi tensions

by Dave Clark
Tue Feb 20, 11:13 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Allegations that a squad of Iraqi policemen enforcing a new Baghdad security plan took turns to rape a young Sunni woman has fed sectarian tensions at the summit of the Iraqi government.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office dismissed the woman's complaint out of hand Tuesday, and accused Sunni politicians of exploiting the drama to undermine a joint US-Iraqi operation to quell factional fighting in the capital.

But an aide to Iraq's Sunni vice president denounced the Shiite premier's response, and claimed initial medical tests carried out at a hospital run by the American military showed the woman had been sexually assaulted.

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