There is a rising concern among the people of Greece after an increasing number of sexual assault cases are being linked to men of Pakistani origin. In the last few months, there have been several cases where Pakistani migrants were found committing unspeakable sexual atrocities against native women and children.
Recently, a Pakistani migrant was arrested in Ierapetra, Crete, for the assault and attempted rape of a local woman. The Pakistani migrant had approached a local woman named Despina Platanaki on Friday night near the old town hall and beat her while attempting to rape her.
A police complaint was filed by the victim and the assaulter was arrested. It was later learned by the police that the assaulter might have sexually harassed at least five other women.
Two days later, on Sunday, Ms Platanaki posted a picture of herself on Facebook and informed the world about the sexual attack on her. She urged other victims of sexual assault to come forward and speak up after she came to know that she was not the Pakistani migrant’s only victim.
In her appeal, Platanaki said, “On Friday night, I was brutally, sexually assaulted by a man of Pakistani descent. After many hours of security statements, we discovered that this ‘gentleman’ had attempted and sexually harassed five more girls who have not testified.”
“Fortunately for those girls, they did not experience the horror and pain that I feel. I know this is a delicate matter, and you may feel ashamed, but if any of you have been harassed and have not mentioned it, please go to the police and make a statement,” Platanaki said.
Alarming rise in the number of sexual assault cases reported in Greece that are linked to Pakistani migrants
For some time now, Greece has been afflicted by a series of sexual assaults involving Pakistani migrants. While the victims have been predominantly native women, in some cases, even children have been brutalised by men of Pakistani descent.
Just a day ago, on 26 March, a case of a Pakistani migrant trying to molest a 13-year-old boy came to the fore. In the Greek village of Messara, a Pakistani migrant reportedly attempted to kiss the minor boy on his lips. The boy had gone to the house of the Pakistani migrant, who was a neighbour of the boy’s relative. After the incident, the boy narrated the incident to his father, who in turn called the police and filed a complaint against the Pakistani migrant.
In February 2021, a court in Greece had extended the judicial custody of a man of Pakistani descent from 12 months to 18 months after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old minor girl. The incident occurred in April 2020 when the Pakistani migrant had raped the minor girl. The culprit had reportedly sexually assaulted the girl when she had come to her home.
While the Pakistani migrant defended himself saying that there was no sexual act between the two, the court had pressed charges for committing rape. Witnesses testified that the Pakistani met the 11-year-old outside a primary school and that the children had informed him that she was a student.
Again in February 2021, a case of a Pakistani man trying to rob and rape a young woman was reported from Pyrgos Kallistos, a village on the island of Santorini. The Pakistani migrant had reportedly threatened the girl with a knife and attempted to rape her in the small municipality of Koliri in the Peloponnese.
Sexual assaults by men of Pakistani origin has increasingly become a common occurrence in various cities across Greece. In January 2021, a horrifying case of attempted rape of a 5-year-old girl by a 20-year-old Pakistani was reported.
The Pakistani migrant, later identified as Ihtisham Al, who worked in an equestrian club in the area, dragged the child and attempted to rape her. However, he did not succeed and when the five-year-old returned to her mother, she described the scene of horror to her. The woman then immediately called the police following which Ihtisham was arrested.
This is Ihtisham Ali, the Pakistani who attempted to rape a 5-year-old girl in Koropi earlier this month. pic.twitter.com/jAvU9fDh5Z
— Paul Antonopoulos 🇬🇷🇨🇾 (@oulosP) January 20, 2021
Most of the Pakistani migrants arrested and accused in the sexual assault case are repeat offenders. A couple of months ago, the Greek police arrested a 29-year-old Pakistani in connection with a sexual abuse case of a 17-year-old teenage girl.
As per the complaint lodged by the girl, the accused chased her, stabbed her in the neck, and forced her to have sex with him on 23 August 2019 near Attiki Square. The girl claimed that the accused raped her again on September 2019.
In December 2020, an egregious case of minors being sexually assaulted was reported from Athens, Greece. As per the case, a Pakistani drug dealer had held two underage girls imprisoned in his apartment, drugged them and repeatedly raped them.
The girls somehow break free of their captor and escaped her apartment. The half-naked drug dealer ran after them to catch them but bumped into the police, who stopped him and handcuffed him. The girls complained that the Pakistani drug dealer was administering them drugs and sexually assaulting them. When the police raided his house, they 49 packages of cannabis, 70 pills and heroin.
