http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20040511/ts_latimes/adoubleordealforfemaleprisoners&cid=2026&ncid=1480 Top Stories - Los Angeles Times
A Double Ordeal for Female Prisoners
Tue May 11, 7:55 AM ET Add Top Stories - Los Angeles Times to My Yahoo!
By Tracy Wilkinson Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — One woman told her attorney she was forced to disrobe in front of male prison guards. After much coaxing, another woman described how she was raped by U.S. soldiers. Then she fainted.
A U.S. Army report on abuses at Abu Ghraib prison documented one case of an American guard sexually abusing a female detainee, and a Pentagon (news - web sites) spokesman said Monday that 1,200 unreleased images of abuse at Abu Ghraib included "inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature."
Whether it was one or numerous cases of rape, many Iraqis believe that sexual abuse of women in U.S.-run jails was rampant. As a result, female prisoners face grave prospects after they are released: denial, ostracism or even death.
A woman who is raped brings shame on her family in the Islamic world. In many cases, rape victims have been killed by their relatives to salvage family honor, although there is no evidence this has happened to women who have been prisoners in Iraq (news - web sites).
"It is like being sentenced to death," said Sheik Mohammed Bashar Faydhi, a senior cleric based at Baghdad's largest Sunni mosque.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20040511/ts_latimes/adoubleordealforfemaleprisoners&cid=2026&ncid=1480
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