Sexual Abuse in Britain's Baghdad Embassy

By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD — Eman (not her real name) is locking herself home, refusing to meet anyone and sinking into despair over what she describes as sexual abuse and bullying at the British Embassy.
"My sister has been in a deep depression since the incident," her brother Ahmed told IslamOnline.net.
"What happened is a shame to her honor. It will affect her future if she gets exposed."
Eman is the latest victim of alleged sexual harassment at the British Embassy, located inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
She is accusing a manager for the services company Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) of sexual harassment on the embassy's property.
The unidentified official was accused of sexually abusing three other workers at the embassy, an Iraqi cleaner and two cooks, more than 18 months ago.
But an internal investigation by KBR cleared him from any wrongdoing and the Iraqi employers were sacked.
He was allowed to return to his job at the embassy soon after the investigation ended as if nothing has happened.
"When we asked for help from the Ministry of Women Affairs, they said that they were also in a very difficult situation and cannot do much for us," said Ahmed, the victim's brother.
"They just recommended a lawyer who is asking a fortune to defend my sister but we don’t have another choice."
The lawyer told Eman's family that the task would not be easy, warning they would be "fighting against very powerful people."
"We are feeling weak, hand-tied and unable to fight for her rights," fumed her brother.
"My sister wants justice, but she might carry her wound for the rest of her life without healing."
Lost Dignity
When Nadia (not her real name) heard about Eman, hellish memories of her own ordeal came blazing into her mind.
"I lost the most important thing in my life after the incident," she told IOL fighting back the bitter memory.
"I lost my dignity."
Nadia is one of the three employees who accused the same KBR manager of sexual abuse.
"After nothing was proved, people started to look at me as if I was a hooker, not someone who suffered abuse."
She was forced out of her home and her husband couldn’t stand the shame and decided to leave her.
"I lost the love of my husband," Nadia said in a voice tinged with pain.
Hikmad Ahmed, the lawyer who followed her case, laments that his unyielding efforts failed to bring justice to Nadia and her colleagues.
"At the end, the poor women were seen as liars."
That's why he insists that the British Embassy should not allow the KBR to investigate the new abuse charges.
"If they were so fair on their law of conduct, they would have never accepted KBR to hold the investigation 18 months ago and allow the same mistake again."
Just like the first time, the accused KBR manager has been suspended from duty pending the end of the investigation.
"I just hope that the Embassy and the British government take it more serious than before, because their image has been destroyed," Ahmed says.
Anna Areen, a British lawyer specialized in sexual misconduct cases, is still surprised by the way the Embassy and Foreign Office reacted to the old charges.
"The UK has long been very serious on the law of conduct inside government and similar places. If they don’t take on their hands the investigation in Baghdad, they will be saying that it is allowed in Britain on the coming future," she told IOL.
"[Those] responsible should pay for what they did and it will be honorable if UK officials take head of this investigation and punishment.
By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
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