German federal police chief is investigated for KIDNAPPING over trip to Iraq, where he arrested an asylum seeker who fled Europe after raping and killing a 14-year-old girl

  • Dieter Romann travelled to Iraq to find a rape-murder suspect who fled there
  • A young Iraqi asylum seeker, Ali Bashar, was arrested on suspicion of the crime
  • He is suspected of raping and strangling Susanna Feldman, 14, while in Germany

By George Martin For Mailonline and Afp

Published: 14:12 BST, 27 September 2018 | Updated: 16:20 BST, 27 September 2018

German prosecutors said Thursday they are investigating the head of the federal police for kidnapping, after he travelled in person to Iraq to secure a rape-murder suspect who had fled there.

Several people filed complaints against top officer Dieter Romann, whose expedition to Iraq in spring – accompanied by reporters from top-selling newspaper Bild – caused an uproar.

He travelled to the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq to arrest a young Iraqi asylum seeker, Ali Bashar, suspected of raping and strangling to death 14-year-old Susanna Feldman while he lived in Germany.

Ali Bashar is in German custody after Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq handed him over to Dieter Romann and his officers despite the lack of an official extradition deal with Baghdad

Ali Bashar is in German custody after Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq handed him over to Dieter Romann and his officers despite the lack of an official extradition deal with Baghdad

The suspect, who lived in refugee housing in western German city Wiesbaden at the time of the crime, fled to his home country soon after.

Authorities in the Kurdish autonomous region arrested the young man in early June and handed him over to Romann and his officers at the airport in their capital Erbil.

But no formal extradition had been agreed with the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

Bashar is in custody in Frankfurt after admitting to the murder, and is also a suspect in the rape of an 11-year-old girl.

The case was one of a number of high-profile violent crimes committed by migrants that have been seized on by the far-right to pummel Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy.

Before the murder, Bashar was a suspect in some minor crimes, but had never previously been charged with anything.

Several people filed complaints against Germany's top police officer Dieter Romann after his expedition to Iraq caused an uproar

Several people filed complaints against Germany's top police officer Dieter Romann after his expedition to Iraq caused an uproar

Several people filed complaints against Germany’s top police officer Dieter Romann after his expedition to Iraq caused an uproar

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