Iraqi accused of forced marriage is paroledBy MARGERY BECK, Associated Press Writer
September 28, 2000, Thursday, BC cycle
LINCOLN, Neb.
One of two Iraqi men sentenced to prison for marrying and having sex with the teen-age daughters of a fellow refugee was paroled Thursday under strict conditions.
The state Parole Board voted 4-0 to parole Majed Al-Tamimy.
Conditions of his release from prison can be lifted only by another vote of the board. Al-Tamimy must wear an electronic monitor and have no contact with the girl he married, the board said. Al-Tamimy, who planned to live at a home in Lincoln with a friend, also will be registered as a sex offender and will be required to receive sex offender and cultural counseling.
Al-Tamimy, 31, was accused of having sex with the 14-year-old daughter of a friend after an arranged marriage during a Moslem ceremony in November 1996. He was accused of forcing the girl to have sex several times before she ran away.
Another Iraqi, Latif Al-Hussani, 37, was accused of marrying a 13-year-old daughter during the same ceremony and forcing her to have sex before she ran away.
The two men, refugees of the Persian Gulf War who came to Lincoln in 1995, denied doing anything wrong. They were sentenced in 1997 to four to six years in prison.
In Nebraska, people cannot marry if they are under 17 years old.
Al-Hussani was not up for a parole board hearing Thursday.
If the Immigration and Naturalization Service decides to deport Al-Tamimy to Iraq and he is found in the United States without the permission of the U.S. Attorney General, the parole board said Al-Tamimy will be in violation of his parole and will have to finish out his sentence in Nebraska.
Because the United States has no deportation policy with Iraq, Al-Tamimy would automatically be in violation of his parole if the INS rules to deport him, parole board officials confirmed.
Officials said a deportation hearing had not been set, but probably would be held.
When asked if he feared being killed if he returned to Iraq, Al-Tamimy said, "Yes, absolutely I would be killed."
An attorney for the victim, Michelle Smith Chaffee, opposed Al-Tamimy's parole. She reminded the parole board of Al-Tamimy's outburst last year when his parole was denied.
"Imagine what that would have been like if you had been a 15-year-old girl," she said.
Repeat 1,000 times, then you won't mind when your 14 year old daughter is forcibly married to a 40 year old arab goat sodomizer if the musli win.