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Iraqi lawmaker: US soldier grabbed my throat
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-19 22:36

An Iraqi lawmaker accused a US soldier of grabbing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground on Tuesday after he parked his car in Baghdad's Green Zone.

Fattah al-Sheikh, an independent, said he had parked his car before a session of parliament when US troops approached him and told him he didn't have the right permit.

Iraqi lawmaker and member of parliament Fattah al-Sheikh (R) walks back to his seat after delivering a speech during a parliament session held in the heavily guarded Green Zone in central Baghdad April 19, 2005. Sheikh, an independent, accused a U.S. soldier of grabbing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground Tuesday after he parked his car in Baghdad's Green Zone.

He said a soldier then kicked his car, insulted him and grabbed him by the throat with both hands as others looked on, before tying his hands behind his back with white plastic cuffs and shoving him to the ground.

"I don't speak English and so I said to the Iraqi translator with them, 'Tell them that I am a member of parliament', and he replied, 'To hell with you, we are Americans,'" Sheikh told parliament, fighting back tears as he recounted the story.

The US military said it was investigating the incident.

"We are aware of the reported incident involving a member of Iraq's Transitional National Assembly and we are investigating it at this time," a military spokesman said.

Sheikh said other members of parliament were present during the scuffle, which took place at one of the main entrances to the Green Zone, a fortified compound in central Baghdad that houses the parliament, the US embassy and other buildings.

"I can still feel the pain around my neck," Sheikh said. It was not clear how he came to be freed.

After hearing his account, the speaker of parliament said he would call on Iraq's new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, to demand a full apology from the US ambassador to Iraq.

The US embassy said it was looking into the affair.

"We are looking at this at a very senior level. We have an officer down there looking at it right now," Bob Callahan, a spokesman for the US embassy, said. "Once we have investigated we will decide what course of action to take."

Some members of parliament called for all meetings to be suspended until an apology was received, but others opposed the motion saying there was other work to be done.

The parliament is in the process of drawing up its rules and regulations, before it gets on to drafting a new constitution.

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