U.S. marines are under investigation for alleged rape

   The Hiroshima Prefectural Police office is investigating four marines stationed at the U.S. Marine Iwakuni Air Station on suspicion of gang-raping a 19-year-old Japanese woman.

   The four marines are suspected of assaulting her in a parked car in Hiroshima City before dawn on October 14. She filed a complaint.

   Police are expected to obtain arrest warrants and request the U.S. military to hand over the four suspects in accordance with the Japan-U.S. Status of Force Agreement.

The SOFA allows the U.S. military to keep detaining U.S. personnel who return to a base after committing a crime until the Japanese authority indicts them.

   Japanese Communist Party Hiroshima Prefectural Committee representatives on October 19 visited the Defense Ministry Chugoku-Shikoku Defense Bureau demanding that the government urge the U.S. to immediately hand over the four suspects and duly punish them based on Japanese law.

The JCP also demanded revision of the SOFA and cancellation of the strengthening of the functions of the U.S. Iwakuni Base. 

- Akahata, October 20, 2007