A refugee may have been gang-raped by his fellow countrymen over a disagreement on the regime in Tehran, in an attack in a derelict brewery in a German state.
An Iranian male seeking refuge in Germany was found tied up injured by police responding to reports of screams coming from abandoned buildings in Iserlohn, Sauerland, North Rhine-Westphalia on Saturday night. It is stated the man had been subjected to a gang-rape.
A police helicopter scoured nearby woods leading to four individuals being arrested. The 30-year-old victim was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment, but the severity of his injuries has not been announced.
Earlier reports discussed the possibility the man-on-man gang rape of a refugee may have been an act of xenophobia by the “right-wing scene”, yet new developments reveal the four arrested men who faced a judge on Monday are also migrants of Iranian heritage. The suspects aged 24, 34, 42 and 46-years-old are residents of the Netherlands and Denmark, but are not natives of Europe.
With xenophobia now “ruled out”, police are investigating a potential political motive, with the Berliner Morgenpost reporting the attackers may have been loyalists to the regime in Tehran and the victim a critic.
Broadcaster NTV cites senior public prosecutor Michael Burggräf who said of the alleged crime: “According to investigations so far, the crime was primarily aimed at sexual humiliation”.
Police are still seeking two more suspects. The investigation is ongoing.
