Iraq Sunni clerics urge release of 150 detained women

[La_Serpiente]

Iraq Sunni clerics urge release of 150 detained women

BAGHDAD, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Sunni Muslim religious leaders demanded on Tuesday that U.S.-led forces release women detained in raids across Iraq, saying this was a key condition for their cooperation with the occupying powers.

At a meeting of Iraqi religious and ethnic leaders aimed at promoting unity and overcoming sectarian strife, the clerics said many Iraqi women were in U.S. detention after being arrested in the volatile Sunni areas around Baghdad.

"The Americans should realise that if they keep doing this the resistance will only get stronger and there will be more violence," Sunni cleric Mohammed Bashar al-Faydee told Reuters.

"A lot of these women belong to tribes, and tribal leaders want revenge. I heard about an American soldier who pulled the hair of a daughter of a tribal sheikh. Even that is a big deal."

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Iraq Sunni clerics urge release of 150 detained women

Why are the women in the custody of American forces?

*The 150 women figure was provided by Juan Cole