Duhok police arrest youths harassing schoolgirls

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The police department of the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province on Monday announced they had arrested youths who harassed and taunted teenage girls coming to and from a local school.

Recently, Duhok police began to investigate claims by students from a girls-only school saying a group of young adults were actively following and harassing students entering and leaving the building, Hemin Suleiman, spokesperson of the Duhok’s law enforcement department, said in a post on social media.

“After an immediate and thorough investigation into the matter, we were able to arrest the perpetrators,” Suleiman confirmed.

In a short video clip shared by the police, one of the perpetrators went into some details about what he had done with his friends, expressing regrets for their behavior.

“We would go in front of the school in cars,” admitted one of the detained youths. “We followed, harassed, and said inappropriate things to them.”

“We threw our numbers to them [written down on a piece of paper],” something young adults, mostly males, do in hopes of getting in touch with people they wish to court.

In separate interviews with the girls, whose commute to and from school had been filled with anxiety and unease, they stated they were happy with the outcome of the investigation and commended police forces for resolving the issue and detaining the perpetrators.

Sexual harassment in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region remains an issue as women have regularly expressed concerns with being in the public light, whether in politics, media, or simply online. 

Editing by Nadia Riva