A policeman in charge of security with the Iraqi selection took the testimony of a young employee of the restaurant of the hotel, affirming that members of the Iraqi delegation “touched an intimate part of his body”in the evening of Thursday, is it 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 manager of the reception of the hotel, also heard by the Argentine policeman, for his part testified that members of the Iraqi team who “Walked in their underwear in the hallways of the hotel, deliberately activated the fire alarm system”. So many behaviors never seen in the hotel”according to him.
A site security officer, quoted in the report, indicates that members of the delegation also “mistreated a performer” local, and have “disabled a hotel elevator, using it overloaded”.
Denial of the Iraqi federation
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, requested a full investigation. The hotel, contacted by AFP, declined to comment. The Iraqi Federation denied it on its Telegram account “the inaccurate information circulating and the rumors […] regarding the problems at our team’s residence”.
The Under-20 World Cup, which begins on Saturday, pits 24 selections against each other until June 11. Initially planned in Indonesia, it was relocated to Argentina last month by the International Football Federation (Fifa), which decided to remove the organization from Indonesia following the refusal of two provincial governors to welcome the Israeli team.