Norway: Iraqi rape suspect flees, calls police for help in coming back
Via VG (Norwegian):
A 33-year old Iraqi suspected of multiple rapes has fled Norway, but is in regular contact with the police, saying he wants to come back.
The Iraqi came to Norway in 2005 as an asylum seeker. He is suspected of six attack rapes in Oslo. He fled to his homeland after he came to the police's attention in a rape case in 2010.
He's now in regular contact with the police and calls several times a month to the Oslo department.
"He calls and says he wants to come back to Norway to explain himself. It's a pretty absurd situation," Kristin Rusdal of the Oslo police told VG Nett.
The Iraqi claims he doesn't have the necessary travel document which he needs to return to Norway. The Norway embassy in Jordan offered to assist him to get the documents he needs.
"We wish to bring him back to Norway, but he must obtain an Iraqi passport before he can travel. He claims it's impossible for him to get a passport. The embassy says it's not true," says Rusdal.
Since Norway doesn't have an extradition agreement with Iraq, the police are dependent on the 33 year old coming back voluntarily.
"He can't get an Iraqi passport for various reason. Then he needs to explain himself to the local authorities, which he doesn't want to. My client wonders why the embassy can't issue a temporary entry document for Norway," the 33-year old's lawyer, Randi Spydevold, told VG Nett.
Rusdal says that the embassy has told them he must get an Iraqi passport in any case. Additionally, he wants the embassy to send him the passport by mail, but such a document requires him to show up personally. He needs to help out in order to resolve the issue.
The rape suspect also said he wants to decide the details of his flight to Norway.
The 33 year old is suspected of six rapes in the years 2007-2010. Five are considered assault rapes. The police had secured DNA samples from three of the cases in 2007, but got no match in the registry. It was only when they found a fingerprint in a rape case in 2010 when they linked it to the 33 year old. The Iraqi denied the accusations and was freed due to lack of evidence.
The police took a DNA sample from him before he was released. By the time they got the results, the 33 year old fled the country. He's now wanted by Interpol. The police had gotten information that he's been through Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Romania before he turned up in his homeland.
