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U.S. seeks death sentence for ex-soldier in Iraq rape case |
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08:21, July 06, 2007 |
The U.S. Justice Department will seek the death penalty against a former soldier accused of raping and killing an Iraqi teenager and slaying her family last year, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
It could be the first capital case to proceed against a U.S. service member arising out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the report.
Prosecutors revealed that they will seek death for former Pfc. Steven D. Green, should he be convicted of the March 12, 2006, slayings of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, 14, her parents and her young sister -- one of the worst war crimes in the Iraq war.
Green, 21, is accused of plotting the attack with three other U. S. soldiers in the hotly contested Mahmudiyah area south of Baghdad.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales approved seeking the death penalty in the case, in part because the crimes were "heinous, cruel and depraved."
Green has been charged in federal court because he was discharged from the Army before the murder allegations surfaced in spring 2006.
The three other soldiers have been charged with the slayings in military courts-martial: One pleaded guilty and received a 90-year sentence, one pleaded guilty and received a 100-year sentence, and the third is scheduled to go to trial this month.
Authorities have portrayed Green as the ringleader of the plot, in which the soldiers wore disguises and set the teenager and her home on fire to conceal the crime.
Source: Xinhua
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