German Police Arrest Seven Afghan Refugees on Charges of Raping an Iranian Teenager

On Thursday, November 4, German police arrested seven Afghan asylum seekers on suspicion of repeatedly raping a 17-year-old Iranian girl and filming the assault. According to Agence France-Presse, over 30 officers participated in the raid on ten rooms in various refugee accommodations in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Police and prosecutors stated in a joint statement: 'These seven Afghans are accused of repeatedly raping a 17-year-old Iranian asylum seeker and filming the assault.' Germany accepted about 900,000 asylum seekers last year, half of whom are from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This population has been housed in various accommodations across the country, including hotels, shops, sports halls, and former military barracks. Numerous instances of tension and conflict have been reported in these crowded accommodations. Asylum seekers have very limited private space in these centers, and the months-long wait for their cases and asylum requests to be processed frustrates them. Aid workers and social workers working in these centers say that in some cases, these tensions have led to conflicts among nationals from different countries or various ethnic and religious minorities, and in other cases, have increased the risk of sexual harassment and assault for women and children. In one painful case that shocked German society, a Syrian refugee threw his three children out of a first-floor window after a domestic dispute with his wife, resulting in severe injuries to two of the children. On Thursday, a court in Germany sentenced this Syrian man to fifteen years in prison. In a court session in Bonn, it was reported that this 35-year-old Syrian attempted to kill all three of his children, aged one to seven, as punishment for his wife due to 'disrespecting his honor.'