Two Iraqi nationals have been arrested for allegedly taking part in the gang rape of an 18-year-old in a parking lot outside a nightclub in the German town of Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia. Reports suggest as many as seven men may have been involved in the August 24 attack.
Several of the accused in the case are said to be adolescents, with at least one holding Syrian citizenship. Others are German citizens, although their ethnic background remains unclear. Police spent weeks investigating the crime, finally identifying the suspects using CCTV footage from the scene.
The attack comes just weeks after another gang rape in Isterlohn, also in North Rhine-Westphalia. That incident saw four Iranians arrested for allegedly raping a 30-year-old woman, also from Iran. Police believe it may have been politically motivated.
Over 7,000 women have been sexually assaulted or raped by migrants in Germany since the 2015 migrant crisis, according to a report released last December.
Populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Marie-Thérèse Kaiser spoke out about migrants being disproportionally linked to rape attacks following the revelations—and was fined by German courts for doing so, despite the fact he was linking to official government statistics.
A total of 41 percent of all crime suspects in Germany are identified as foreigners, with migrants vastly overrepresented in many crimes, including sex offenses and violent crimes.
