BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Only hours after launching an investigation Tuesday, the Iraqi government denied accusations that police officers had raped a woman while in detention.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office issued a statement dismissing accusations that members from the Shiite-dominated police force had "taken turns" raping Sunni woman Sabreen al-Janabi.
"After a medical investigation, it appeared that Sabreen al-Janabi had not been sexually abused at all," the statement said, adding that Maliki "commended those honest officers."
Al-Janabi appeared on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera news channel Monday, with her face veiled, as she recounted being taken from her house Sunday in al-Amel district in southwestern Baghdad when her husband was out.
The police officers accused her of cooking for Sunni insurgents and was taken to a police garrison, she claimed, adding that several police officers had raped her before she was released because a U.S. military patrol was approaching the barracks.
Maliki had ordered an investigation into al-Janabi's allegations, which drew a general outcry in the patriarchal, conservative society where rape victims rarely admit sexual abuse publicly to avoid social humiliation.
The prime minister's office accused the parties which "stirred up" the issue of trying to "obscure the Baghdad security plan" launched since last Wednesday.
But the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party described the government's findings as "hasty and lacking accuracy."
