U.S. military trials ordered in Iraq murder cases
11 U.S. service members will face military trials in three separate cases for the murders of Iraqi civilians, including the gang rape and murder of a teenage girl and the killing of her family in their home in Mahmudiya, the military said on Wednesday.
Four soldiers will be tried for the rape and murder of fourteen-year old Iraqi teenager Abeer Qasim Hamza and the killing of her parents and younger sister at their home in Mahmudiyah. The soldiers names are Sergeant Paul Cortez, Specialist James Barker and Privates First Class Jesse Spielman and Bryan Howard. According to investigators, Spec. Barker testified he held Abeer Qasim Hamza down while Cortez raped her. Barker also said he tried to rape her before she was shot by former soldier Stephen Green. Green will be tried in civilian court. Trials were also ordered Wednesday for the murder of Iraqis in Tikrit and Hamdaniyah.
An Army general ordered the court-martial of four soldiers in the Mahmudiya case and said two of the four could face death if found guilty. One of the accused will testify against the others, according to his Washington attorney, David Sheldon.
Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner also ordered military trials for four other soldiers accused of murdering three Iraqi detainees during a raid on a suspected insurgent camp near Thar Thar Lake, southwest of Tikrit.
In the third case, three U.S. Marines will be tried on murder charges in the death of an Iraqi grandfather kidnapped from his house in Hamdania in the middle of the night, the U.S. Marine Corps said.
Those cases, particularly the alleged Mahmudiya gang rape, as well as the killing of 24 people in Haditha, have sparked outrage among Iraqis. Mahmudiya led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops’ immunity from Iraqi prosecution.
Haditha is still being investigated and no Marines have been charged.
reuters
democracynow
Stumble it!