Blackwater guard sentenced to life in prison over Baghdad massacre

Rasa - A court in the United States has sentenced 4 former guards with private security firm Blackwater to lengthy prison terms over their roles in the 2007 killing of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians.

News ID: 2343

Date: 14 April 2015 - 15:46

RNA - A former Blackwater guard has been sentenced to life in prison and three others to 30 years over the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians in 2007.

Nicholas Slatten and three others were convicted last year for the killings in Baghdad's crowded Nisoor Square.

A further 17 Iraqis were injured as the private contractors opened fire to clear the way for a US diplomatic convoy in Nisour Square of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

"I just want to know why they killed my son? Why did you guys kill my son?" said Fatimah al-Fadwi Kinani who lost her nine-year-old at the incident.

The lawyers asked the judge to show leniency, arguing that the perpetrators had put their lives in danger and had to make "split second decisions in the most dangerous city on earth," as put by David Schertler, Slough's lawyer.

Lamberth rejected that argument but agreed to limit prison time to the 30-year minimum in all cases but Slatten’s.

The four convicted by a federal jury in October after a lengthy trial that saw some 30 witnesses travel from Iraq to testify against the security contractors.

In 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant violation of international law and under the false pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction stockpiled by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

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