MNF arrest women instead of their wanted relatives – MP

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi legislator on Saturday said that most female detainees at Multi National Force (MNF) prisons were arrested instead one of their family members the forces were actually looking for, adding that this issue violates Iraq’s constitution. “There are 13 women arrested at MNF jails, and the Iraqi parliament’s human rights committee hired lawyers to follow up their cases and refer them to Iraqi courts,” a committee member, Shazha al-Ibosi of the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) told IraqiNews.com. Concerning female detainees at Iraqi prisons, Ibosi said, “There are 100 female detainees at Iraqi detention centers in Baghdad, 25 to 30 of them are under 18 years old”. “At other provinces, there are 2–10 female detainees at each,” she added. “Recently, we had a meeting with representatives from the Supreme Judicial Council, the justice ministry and the parliament’s security and defense committee to follow up the issue of female detainees covered by the amnesty law,” she noted. “The Supreme Judicial Council made a decision to accelerate the process of releasing those women, but its application has been delayed because of the justice ministry,” she asserted. MH (S)/AmR 1