", "By investigating these crimes and completing legal proceedings, the US complied with its obligations under international law," she added. A State Department employee who was walking into the department's Baghdad operations center on the day of the incident heard a radio call from the convoy: "Contact, contact, contact! On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that it would not be renewing its security contract with the company. He could not understand what was happening or why. The kind of reporting we do is essential to democracy, but it is not easy, cheap, or profitable. My law firm received a call from an immigration attorney the next year seeking representation for the Blackwaters victims, and I was eventually retained to represent the Kinani family in a civil lawsuit against Blackwater, Prince, and various other Blackwater companies and, of course, the men who were charged and eventually convicted of murder, manslaughter, and weapons charges for their conduct. [16] The FBI investigation found that, of the 17 Iraqis killed by the guards, at least 14 were shot without cause. "The ministry believes that this decision did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed and was inconsistent with the U.S. administration's declared commitment to the values of human rights, justice, and the rule of law, and regrettably ignores the dignity of the victims," it said. and thus prosecution by U.S. The September 16, 2007 shootings by Blackwater mercenaries left 14 Iraqis dead and wounded 18 others in Baghdad's Nisour Square. [63], A U.S. judge's decision to dismiss all charges against Blackwater on January 1, 2010, sparked outrage in the Arab world. I felt I had done that, and I knew the prosecutors were doing that. FBI scientists couldn't match bullets from the square to guns carried by the Blackwater guards and FBI investigators found foreign cartridge cases of a kind not used by U.S. or Blackwater personnel. It was chaotic. "Paul Slough and his colleagues didn't deserve to spend one minute in prison," Brian Heberlig, a lawyer for Slough, told The Associated Press. [6][85][86] Jurors sided with prosecutors' contention that the shooting was a criminal act, not a battlefield encounter gone wrong. Slatten, whom prosecutors said started the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison. October 22 2014, 9:58 a.m. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., returned guilty verdicts against four . Survivors and victims' relatives of a 2007 shooting in Iraq by Blackwater contractors meet with United States prosecutors in Baghdad in 2008. [3][84] Prosecutors stated they reached their decision after an "assessment of the admissible evidence against him". In the middle of the attack, Mohammed could not understand why this man lying dead was a target. This is not for the faint of heart but allegedly a video from the Ukraine conflict at a check-point at Mariupol which is surrounded by Russian troops. [88], On August 4, 2017, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned Slatten's murder conviction and ordered the other defendants to be re-sentenced to time already served. Monday's sentencing was. He lay in the hallway for an hour before he died. This evidentiary use of tainted information constitutes yet another Kastigar violation. Before embarking on the clandestine Kyiv visit, Erik Prince consulted with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Director National Intelligence Avril Haines, with whom his relationship goes a long way the back to the early nineties after she purchased a bar in Fells Point, Baltimore, which had been seized in a drug raid. It was an honor to represent these victims and their families. The report found that the guards fired their weapons 195 times from the beginning of 2005 through the second week of September 2005. The result of the long legal battle is that each man was ensured a fair trial, free of partiality and without unjust favor. [12] The U.S. State Department has said that "innocent life was lost",[13] and according to The Washington Post, a military report appeared to corroborate "the Iraqi government's contention that Blackwater was at fault". My clients assuredly feel ignored, mistreated, and used. Who would hold party elites accountable to the values they proclaim to have? Again, I knew my clients would be pleased to know that justice had been served and their rights had been protected. Associated Press WASHINGTON Four former Blackwater Worldwide security guards were convicted and immediately jailed Wednesday for their roles in a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisour Square. [54] He served one tour in Iraq before being hired as a Personal Security Specialist in Iraq. That changed yesterday with President Donald Trumps pardons. Again be warned it is ugly. Prosecutors said the Blackwater convoy launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers. [58] Nor is the US a signatory of the 1977 additional protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions in which Article 47 specifies that mercenaries are civilians who "take a direct part in the hostilities" and are "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain". [14], On October 2, 2007, the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report stating that Blackwater USA guards had used deadly force weekly in Iraq and had inflicted "significant casualties and property damage". The pardons have reduced American talk of human rights to mere "slogans," he said, adding, "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity. "Pardoning the Blackwater contractors is an affront to justice and to the victims of the Nisour Square massacre and their families," said Jelena Aparac, Chair . These convictions happened under the Obama Administration. Defence lawyers argued their clients returned fire after being ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. [14] The Iraqi government vowed to punish Blackwater. A burnt car at the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on a crowd in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007. ", Human Rights Watch says the pardons "show contempt for the rule of law.". "[29], On October 4, 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it would be taking the lead in the investigation of the shooting incident. [2] 16,000 volunteers coming to Ukraine, Zelensky: https://www.rt.com/russia/551149-zelensky-ukraine-foreign-fighters/. IE 11 is not supported. [54] He enlisted in 1999, and served in Bosnia with the 3rd Infantry Division. Witnesses described how the American men ambushed the civilians unprovoked, firing on Baghdad's Nisour Square with heavy gunfire and grenade launchers. I know that each of them placed great faith in the U.S. legal system. [49], An Interior Ministry spokesman said Iraqi authorities had completed their investigation into the shooting and concluded that Blackwater guards were responsible for the deaths. When Mohammed saw the convoy enter the traffic circle, he initially thought they were regular U.S. Army members. Their bodies were beaten and burned, with their charred corpses then dragged through the city streets before being hanged over a bridge crossing the Euphrates River. Erik Prince, chair of the Prince Group LLC and Blackwater USA, holds up a picture showing the effect of a car bomb while testifying during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Oct. 2, 2007 in Washington, D.C. Mohammed was going to visit his sister and her children. [34], In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Blackwater's rights to conduct work in Iraq were temporarily suspended. The Beginning Blackwater USA began in 1997 by Al Clark and Erik Prince. In his testimony, Prince noted that, "It seems the ballistics analysis was done to prove the guilt of the Americans, not to just try to identify what happened there." Being so close to the Green Zone, he thought someone important might be entering or leaving the area. "Trump pardons Blackwater contractors jailed for massacre of Iraq civilians", 23 December 2020. Boslego also said the attack had a negative effect on our mission, [an] adverse effect It made our relationship with the Iraqis in general more strained.. Nasser, who attended the 2014 trial in the United States, said his brother's death had broken his father's heart. "[21] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki harshly criticized the dismissal. No wonder Russia formally issued an ultimatum on Tuesday, March 1, that it would target the hub of covert warfare. Suddenly, bullets began to riddle Mohammeds car. He saw the man next to him run. Almost everyone who was killed or injured was shot in cars, taxis, or buses. Justice Blackwater mercenary sentenced to life in prison On Wednesday, Slatten was sentenced to life in federal prison for initiating a massacre that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead. 3", is named Paul Slough. [28] Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder, and Slough, Liberty and Heard were found guilty of voluntary and attempted manslaughter charges, and of using a machine gun to commit a violent crime. [72] A sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, struck a deal with prosecutors on December 4, 2008 and pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, and aiding and abetting,[72][3] and agreed to testify against the other five men. I was thinking the same thing about the Chechens a few days ago. It is unfortunate and sad that those efforts have now been wasted. Four Blackwater security guards convicted in 2014 of carrying out a massacre of Iraqi civilians, sparking an international outcry over the use of mercenaries in war . The Blackwater guards were firing indiscriminately. "They prefer animals over humans, and then they talk about human rights, justice and humanity," said an Iraqi man whose brother was among those killed in 2007. [19] The three justifiable killings were those of the two passengers in the white Kia sedan and an unidentified Iraqi nearby. The only way these men could be brought to justice was in the United States. Mohammed could see other cars being shot. Further, besides advising and assisting the UAEs petro-monarchy in strengthening the police state, Erik Prince alsoreportedly provided[3] weapons and modified aircraft to eastern Libyas warlord and former CIA asset Khalifa Haftar, backed by Egypt and UAE, in his thwarted military campaign against the Tripoli government lasting from April 2019 to June 2020. His sister was safe. Majid survived because he was on the passenger side of the car and was protected from most of the barrage of bullets. Nassar Hamza was 67 years old when he was shot and wounded in the arm. I sued Blackwater, its founder Erik Prince, and the four men who were convicted of murder, manslaughter, or weapons charges in a civil lawsuit filed in North Carolina, the home of Blackwaters headquarters and training facility in Moyock. [26][29], An Iraqi government account of the incident stated that as the convoy drew close to Nisour Square, a Kia sedan with a woman and her adult son in it was approaching the square from a distance, driving slowly on the wrong side of the road, and that the driver ignored a police officer's whistle to clear a path for the convoy. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause", "Blackwater guards lose bid to appeal charges in Iraqi civilian shooting case", "U.S. troops in Iraq will need immunity: U.S. chief", "Jurors' Note Hints at Conviction in Blackwater Case", "Former Blackwater Guards Convicted in Iraq Shooting", "Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians", "Trump Pardons Two Russia Inquiry Figures and Blackwater Guards", "Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law - UN", "Iraqi Inquiry Says Shooting Was Unprovoked", "Blackwater guards fired unprovoked: Iraq police evidence", "Pentagon Dispatches Investigators to Iraq to Probe Private Security Contractors", "Joint Iraqi-U.S. review begins in wake of Blackwater firefight", "Blackwater faulted by U.S. military: report", "Iraq determined to rein in private security guards", "The Iraqi Account of the Killings [infographic]", "Former Blackwater Employee Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murder in 2007 Shooting at Nisur Square in Iraq", "US Lawyers for Blackwater Guards: 2007 Baghdad Shooting was Self-Defense", "From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths", "Four Former Blackwater Employees Found Guilty of Charges in Fatal Nisur Square Shooting in Iraq", "Iraqi ministers back Blackwater shutdown - CNN.com", "Iraqi Report Says Blackwater Guards Fired First", "State Dept. [24] The driver of the Kia was shot once in the head by a Blackwater contractor and was killed. "We've backed off that. "These four individuals were given sentences ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment, including on charges of first-degree murder," spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement. Slough, Liberty and Heard were convicted on multiple charges of voluntary and attempted manslaughter in 2014, while Slatten, who was the first to start shooting, was convicted of first-degree murder. Nasser's younger brother, Mahdi Saheb Nasser, was 22 and working as a taxi driver when he was killed in September 2007 alongside other unarmed civilians in Baghdad's Nisur Square. [29] Several sources have stated that the explosion was caused by a mortar round, though this is not reflected in the State Department's incident report. Luckily, before his SUV was attacked, Mohammed, his sister, and their children had time to duck into the car. [42] A spokesman stated that the ban would last for the duration of the investigation, and that it would not be permanent. Free shipping for many products! "We showed the world that we were going to hold people accountable," he says. Who would be responsible for the myopic and vindictive policy of providing anti-aircraft munitions to Ukraines irregular militias once Kyiv falls and those MANPADS are found in black markets posing a grave risk to civilian airlines across the globe?