Iraq's under-20 national team, which competed in the World Cup in Argentina, has been reported by police for alleged "acts of vandalism" and sexual assault at its hotel, according to a police report.
A police officer in charge of security with the Iraqi selection collected the testimony of a young employee of the hotel restaurant, saying that members of the Iraqi delegation "touched an intimate part of her body", on Thursday evening, it is reported in a bulletin of the police of La Plata (60 km from Buenos Aires) published Friday in several Argentine media. The young woman, according to the report, did not wish to file a complaint or give her identity.
The head of the hotel reception, also heard by the Argentine policeman, testified that members of the Iraqi team who "walked in their underwear in the corridors of the hotel, deliberately activated the fire alarm system". So many behaviors "never seen in the hotel", according to him.
A security guard at the site, quoted in the report, said that members of the delegation also "mistreated a local interpreter" and "disabled an elevator in the hotel, using it overloaded".
According to the police report, the head of the Iraqi delegation Mohammed Naser Sharkrown al-Mansoori was formally informed of the facts via an interpreter, and the local head of the Organizing Committee for the Argentine Federation (AFA), host of the World Cup, called for a full investigation. The hotel, contacted by AFP, did not wish to comment.
The Under-20 World Cup, which begins Saturday, has 11 caps until June 24. Initially planned in Indonesia, it was last month relocated to Argentina by the International Football Federation (Fifa) which decided to withdraw the organization to Indonesia following the refusal of two provincial governors to host the team of Israel.
