No exhumation in US troops' rape case: Iraqi mayor

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060719/ts_nm/iraq_rape_dc;_ylt=AmYy2VJF1MGSjBLAyUasDDWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

No exhumation in US troops' rape case: Iraqi mayor

30 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Relatives of the Iraqi family at the center of a rape and murder case involving U.S. troops will not allow the victims' remains to be exhumed for forensic tests, the mayor of their community said on Wednesday.

"It is disgraceful to remove a body after burial," Muayyad Fadhil said by telephone from Mahmudiya, the town near Baghdad where the family of four was killed in their home in March.

"The family are refusing," he added, citing common Islamic religious objections to exhumations.

Local officials have set up a committee to investigate the case, which the U.S. military brought to light late last month.

Family members and U.S. military officials were not immediately available for comment on the development in a case that has outraged Iraqi public opinion and put five Americans at risk of the death penalty over the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and killing of her parents and younger sister........

[rodeodance]

1. "officials have said no tests for rape". so, no physical evidense exists.

.....Local hospital officials have said no tests for rape were carried out when the four bodies were brought in on March 12, leaving evidence in support of the rape charges against the five apparently heavily dependent on statements by those involved.

U.S. court documents in the case of Green indicate that other defendants say he killed three family members then raped Abeer al-Janabi and killed her too. They accuse one other soldier of raping the girl and a further two of being in the house during the killings.

[TomInTib]

2. A military court-martial can convict without physical evidence.

Testimony alone will suffice.

I hope they hang the chickenshit.

Hell, I will volunteer to do it myself.

[Demeter]

3. I Suppose Murder Isn't Sufficient Reason to Convict

What a sickness this regime is.

[KoKo]

4. Rape leaves marks...the physical evidence alone for a 14 year old

girl should be enough to convict. I agree with the family. I would not want my family member exhumed after such a dreadful thing had happened to her. Enough is enough. If the doctors were Iraqi and not military then they would have noted the evidence of brutality. Although it was said the soldiers burned her body from the waist down (at least one initial report said that) there may not even have been enough for more comprehensive tests and it may have covered up the brutality if the flesh was burned.

It's just so dreadful.....

[LostinVA]

5. Exhumation is just so against their culture and religion, too

I respect that, as I also respect any American family who doesn't want a loved one's remains dug up.

[Mandate My Ass]

6. they burned her body with flammable liquid

to hide the evidence. Perhaps the morgue can confirm that part. It's an aggravating factor to mutilate a corpse in order to hide your crime.

[daleo]

7. Well, charge them for the four counts of murder

There shouldn't be any need to exhume bodies over that.

[uppityperson]

8. Oh Abeer, may you rest in peace now.

Having evidence of rape, showing that rape did occur by the evidence as well as testimony, would be bad for the familys reputation. Yes, bad enough that the family were murdered and burnt, but some places rape places another larger onus on the crime. I can understand the relatives not wanting this, and the soldiers involved should get prosecuted for murder, mutilation and coverup. And the higher ups that knew about it should be prosecuted for coverup (conspiring?). Damn them all.