ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Police in Iraq's southern Diwaniya province on Saturday said they had detained an officer and other police personnel accused of assaulting a female detainee at a police station, with the suspects set to face trial next week.

The announcement came after reports circulated earlier in the day alleging that a police officer and three other personnel were under investigation for sexually assaulting a female detainee at the station.

The Diwaniya Police Directorate told state media that it had “taken legal action and detained an officer and several personnel pending investigation, following their assault on a female detainee” at al-Nahda police station.

Police said the suspects will be referred to trial next week and will be prosecuted under Article 14 of the Internal Security Forces Law, which “carries severe penalties,” explaining that “the penalty could reach dismissal from service and imprisonment for a period of no less than seven years.”

Under Iraq's penal code, rape is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Senior Interior Ministry Undersecretary Hussein al-Awadi said the ministry “will not tolerate any violation of human dignity or any breach of the law” and directed that the “strictest legal and administrative measures be taken against anyone found to be involved,” according to a statement.

The treatment of prisoners and detainees in Iraq has long been under scrutiny by rights groups, which have repeatedly raised concerns over weak oversight, overcrowding, and aging detention facilities. 

Awareness of gender-based and sexual violence has gradually grown across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, supported by campaigns led by civil society organizations, the governments in Erbil and Baghdad, the United Nations, and other non-governmental organizations.