HILLA, Iraq (AFP) – Iraqis called on Friday for the execution of former US soldier Steven Dale Green, who faces the death penalty after being convicted of raping an Iraqi teenager and murdering the girl and her family.
Relatives and residents of Mahmudiyah, a small agricultural community south of Baghdad where five US soldiers committed one of the most chilling crimes of the war involving American troops, said the jury should condemn Green to death.
"We are now waiting for the American judiciary to carry out what is its humanitarian responsibility -- to do the right thing by giving the strongest punishment to this criminal," said Um Mohammed al-Janabi, a relative of the family.
On Thursday, a federal jury in a Kentucky civilian court declared Green guilty of all 17 charges -- including rape, premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.
Three other soldiers who took part in the March 2006 atrocity in Mahmudiyah were given life sentences by a military court. A fourth, who acted as lookout, was jailed for 27 months.
Green was accused of being the leader of the rape of the 14-year-old Iraqi girl in the town of about 50,000, and of killing her, her father, mother and six-year-old sister.
Green, a former Private First Class, was discharged from the US army for what was described as a personality disorder before the crime was discovered.
Defence lawyers argued that the stress of the combat environment after the US-led invasion of 2003 had prompted Green to commit his crimes.
The leader of Mahmudiyah town council, Najem Mahdi, told AFP that only execution could right the terrible wrong committed by the 23-year-old from Midland, Texas.
"The crime he committed was premeditated and it was an assault against all Iraqis," he said. "There will only be justice if the most severe punishment is handed down to the soldier."
The commander of a local Sunni Arab militia allied with the US military said he spoke for all Iraqis when he called for Green's death.
"If I were the judge, I would carry out the decision that all Iraqis want, which is to execute him immediately," said Sabah Athab.
The case is one of several involving US soldiers that has infuriated Iraqis, prompting government officials to insist during negotiations for a key military pact between Baghdad and Washington last year that American troops be subject to Iraqi law when off duty and not on base.
Last month, US army Master Sergeant John Hatley was jailed for life by an American military court for the execution-style murder of four prisoners in Iraq.
His colleagues, combat medic Private Michael Leahy and Sergeant First Class Joseph Mayo had already been convicted over the killings and sentenced to life and 35 years in prison. Two others received lighter sentences.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090508/ts_alt_afp/usmilitaryiraqtrialrapemurder
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