ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi courts on Monday sentenced two people to death by hanging on charges of raping minors, reported the country’s judiciary.
In April, a man in Basra confessed to kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old girl, before murdering her and putting her body in a trash can. The news sparked widespread anger across the country.
"Protecting children is a basic principle of a healthy contemporary life in countries and societies keen to preserve rights, preserve dignity and protect life," said Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid at the time in reaction to the crime, calling on the court to issue firm and decisive rulings in such instances.
The Basra criminal court sentenced the suspect to death on Monday, a bit over a month following his confession. Although the raping of the minor is mentioned, the suspect was sentenced in accordance with Article 406 of the Iraqi penal code which relates to the premeditated and willful killing of another person.
Baghdad’s Rusafa criminal court also sentenced a man to death charged with kidnapping and raping two children in the Iraqi capital, the statement from the judiciary added.
Another suspect was handed a 15 year imprisonment sentence by the Salahaddin criminal court on account of raping a minor, although he was sentenced according to an Article relating to sexual assault, not particularly rape.
The Iraqi penal code defines an imprisonment period not exceeding 15 years for any person charged with raping a man or a woman, but specifies child rape as “an aggravating circumstance” which could result in increasing the severity of the punishment.
Stigma around sexual violence is high in Iraq where the issue is wrapped up in notions of honor. As such, victims often hide the abuse and the problem is under-reported.
Awareness of gender-based and sexual violence is slowly growing across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, helped by numerous campaigns by the governments in Erbil and Baghdad, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations.
In April, a man in Basra confessed to kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old girl, before murdering her and putting her body in a trash can. The news sparked widespread anger across the country.
"Protecting children is a basic principle of a healthy contemporary life in countries and societies keen to preserve rights, preserve dignity and protect life," said Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid at the time in reaction to the crime, calling on the court to issue firm and decisive rulings in such instances.
The Basra criminal court sentenced the suspect to death on Monday, a bit over a month following his confession. Although the raping of the minor is mentioned, the suspect was sentenced in accordance with Article 406 of the Iraqi penal code which relates to the premeditated and willful killing of another person.
Baghdad’s Rusafa criminal court also sentenced a man to death charged with kidnapping and raping two children in the Iraqi capital, the statement from the judiciary added.
Another suspect was handed a 15 year imprisonment sentence by the Salahaddin criminal court on account of raping a minor, although he was sentenced according to an Article relating to sexual assault, not particularly rape.
The Iraqi penal code defines an imprisonment period not exceeding 15 years for any person charged with raping a man or a woman, but specifies child rape as “an aggravating circumstance” which could result in increasing the severity of the punishment.
Stigma around sexual violence is high in Iraq where the issue is wrapped up in notions of honor. As such, victims often hide the abuse and the problem is under-reported.
Awareness of gender-based and sexual violence is slowly growing across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, helped by numerous campaigns by the governments in Erbil and Baghdad, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations.
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