A 24-year-old Afghan migrant who worked with U.S. Troops before immigrating has claimed molesting a child is no reason to go to prison, rather that it’s part of his “culture.”
QUICK FACTS:
- A U.S. District Court found 24-year-old Afghan, Mohammed Tariq guilty of abusive sexual conduct, according to The National File.
- The court’s Friday decision came after Tariq was arrested in September at Quantico’s Camp Upshur.
- Tariq was caught by a group of marines raping a toddler who was also an Afghan migrant, both of whom were brought to the United States as part of the Afghanistan withdrawal.
- The Associated Press (AP) reported Tariq was convicted of sexually molesting the girl where refugees were being housed at Camp Upshur on Marine Corps Base Quantico.
- Court documents show that Tariq, who was allowed to emigrate for having worked with U.S. troops in Afghanistan, defended himself by claiming that molesting children is part of his “culture,” according to AP.
MORE DETAILS ON THE ARREST:
- According to a statement by the Department of Justice Tariq told authorities, he hadn’t done anything wrong, and that child molestation was part of Afghan culture.
- The DOJ statement outlines the reasons for the arrest saying that Tariq was seen by Marines at Camp Upshur “inappropriately touching the victim over her clothing, on her chest, genitals, and buttocks,” before his arrest.
- The National File’s report states that the defendant’s attorney attempted to have those statements scrubbed from the record, but that was rejected by the U.S. District Judge.
BACKGROUND:
- The DOJ reported that the federal jury convicted the Afghan national of “abusive sexual contact with a 3-year-old girl.”
- Both victim and the convicted rapist were housed near the FBI training facility after their evacuation from Afghanistan and were not related.
- Tariq faces the possibility of life in prison when sentenced on April 26, 2022.
