Nineveh Court of Appeals issued a statement on the case of rape of an underage girl by a member of Tribal Mobilization force, stressing that the suspect has not been released and that the investigation is still on-going.
The parents of the minor had accused the suspect of kidnapping and raping her at gunpoint.
The court statement says that the accused was detained two hours after the parents.
the accused confessed to having sex with the victim several times in the months of April, May and June
Judge Amer al-Rubay’i stated on the case that “the accused […] confessed to having sex with the victim several times in the months of April, May and June.”
The judge emphasised that “the case is still under investigation and in the process of recording the statements by the legal representative of the Popular Mobilization organization, and looking into legal records of the accused to refer him to the specialised criminal court.”
Entrance of the Nineveh Court of Appeals building in Mosul
The judge also added that the accused was not acquitted or released under pressure as some misleading online outlets asserted.
A source in Nineveh said that the accused is a member of the Tribal Mobilization Force, which was formed by the Iraqi parliament member Basma Basim.
For her part, the MP issued a statement regarding the case on 14 July 2020, in which she says that "the lawsuit filed by a girl against an affiliate of the Tribal Mobilization [...] without scrutiny and accuracy in publishing."
The forming of the militia was an initiative of hers and the accused belongs to the same tribe as the MP.
"While we stand by and support legal and judicial procedures, and that the investigation takes its course without influence and retribution from the accused, we are against fabricating the charges and bogus stories that were neither mentioned by the complainant nor were proven in the investigation in the first place," she stated.
And adding that “the investigation and the evidence have proven that there was no kidnapping of the girl; that thing had never happened, as there was no rape and no use of any weapons.”
The issue attracted wide-spread attention and activists have started a campaign using the hashtag “justice for the Mosul girl”, which was widely shared on social media.
