2 G.I.'s Guilty in Iraqi
Co-Worker's Death
The New York Times
By EDWARD WONG and CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: January 23, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 22 - Two American soldiers were convicted
Saturday on court-martial charges related to the shooting death
of a 28-year-old Iraqi woman who was working with them as an
interpreter.
The soldiers, Specialist Charley Hooser and Specialist Rami
Dajani, were both convicted of making a false official statement
to investigators after the killing of the translator, Luma, a
mother of one daughter. The court requested that the victim's
last name be withheld for her family's safety.
Specialist Hooser was also convicted of involuntary
manslaughter, while Specialist Dajani was convicted of accessory
after the fact. Specialist Dajani had faced an involuntary
manslaughter charge at the beginning of his trial but it was
dismissed by prosecutors.
Specialist Hooser was sentenced to three years in jail,
reduction to the lowest enlisted Army rank, and forfeiture of pay
to his wife after six months. He also received a bad conduct
discharge. Specialist Dajani received 18 months in jail,
reduction to the lowest rank, and a bad conduct discharge.
The incident happened at an American base in Baghdad on Nov.
24, 2004, when Luma, who had been employed by The Washington Post
and then later worked for the American military during
interrogations of detainees, and the two men were in a room where
they worked.
The soldiers testified that the three had been teasing one
another about shooting someone. "We were joking around,"
Specialist Hooser told the court.
Specialist Dajani then handed him a 9-millimeter pistol from a
cabinet in the room, Specialist Hooser testified. He said he
thought he had heard Specialist Dajani clear the weapon of
ammunition, so he did not check it.
He said he then pointed the pistol at Luma's head, thinking it
was empty, and pulled the trigger, killing her. "She was slumped
over," he said.
Specialist Hooser told the court that he was sorry and agreed
that he had acted negligently. "I should not have been playing
with a firearm," he said. He wiped away tears several times as
witnesses, mostly soldiers he went on patrol with, spoke of his
excellence as a soldier.
Specialist Dajani later broke down in court as he described
Luma slumped over, and then her being loaded into a medical
Humvee.
The two men lied to investigators for 15 days, saying that
Luma had shot herself. "I told him to blame me," said Specialist
Dajani, saying that he had encouraged Specialist Hooser to lie
about the death.
Meanwhile, a militant group said Saturday that it had freed
eight Chinese laborers whom it had recently abducted and who had
been shown on a videotape released on Tuesday. China's state news
agency confirmed that they had been freed.
In a videotape shown on Al Arabiya, a satellite network based
in Dubai, a spokesman for the militant group, the Movement of the
Islamic Resistance Numan Brigades, said it had agreed to release
the hostages after China prohibited its citizens from traveling
to Iraq.
The hostages were turned over to the Muslim Scholars
Association, a group of prominent Sunni clerics.
Organizers of the effort to register Iraqi expatriates to vote
abroad in the coming elections announced on Saturday that the
deadline was being extended by two days, to Tuesday.
No reason was given for the extension, but registrations were
coming in much lower than expected. At one point, officials had
thought that as many as one million expatriates in 14 different
countries would be eligible to vote. But by late Friday, only
131,635 had registered.
In Baghdad, Falah Hassan al-Naqib, the Iraqi interior
minister, announced the closing of the Baghdad airport Jan. 29
and 30 and a curfew extension in some cities as security
provisions for the Jan. 30 vote.
He also said that no arrest warrant had been issued for Ahmad
Chalabi , the former exile and one-time Pentagon darling. On
Friday, Defense Minister Hazim al-Shalaan said on Al Jazeera, an
Arab network, that the Iraqi government intended to arrest Mr.
Chalabi, a candidate on a rival slate, and give him to Interpol
to face corruption charges. Mr. Chalabi had accused Mr. Shalaan
of illegally spiriting millions of dollars out of Iraq.
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London for this
article.
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