Two Afghan refugees at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, have been charged with crimes after being evacuated to the United States from Kabul, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced Wednesday.
Bahrullah Noori, 20, is charged with attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force against that person, as well as three counts of engaging in a sexual act with a minor, DOJ said in a release. 32-year-old Mohammad Haroon Imaad is charged with strangling and suffocating his spouse.
U.S. DOJ: Two Afghan refugees federally charged for crimes while at Fort McCoy.
One accused of ‘strangling and suffocating’ his wife, the other accused of ‘attempting to engage in a sexual act with a minor using force’ pic.twitter.com/qivlJxnJqf
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) September 22, 2021
The charges against Noori allege that the victims were not yet 16 years old and were at least four years younger than Noori. Both men are scheduled for arraignment Thursday morning and are being held in Dane County Jail.
Noori faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years, up to a maximum of life in prison, if convicted of the charges alleging use of force. Imaad faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison. Their initial appearances in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sep. 16. (RELATED: How Is The Biden Administration Vetting Afghan Refugees?)
More than 120,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan in the final weeks of the American withdrawal, including tens of thousands of Afghan refugees, many of which are now being settled in the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously admitted that a majority of the Afghans evacuated by the U.S. were not vetted before being let onto American planes, and would have to be screened at a later date.
The Daily Caller reported in August that a small percentage of Afghan refugees bound for the United States had been flagged through biometric and background checks for possible ties to terrorism. At least six refugees in Wisconsin and Virginia have been diagnosed with cases of measles, and U.S. officials identified some Afghan evacuees who brought with them child brides who had been forced into marriage in order to be evacuated from Kabul.