[Rudaw] The US State Department on Thursday welcomed an Iraqi court’s decision to sentence five individuals to life imprisonment in suspicion to the killing of an American national in Baghdad late last year.
Stephen Edward Troell, an American national who worked as an English teacher in Baghdad, was rubbed out under unclear circumstances in the Iraqi capital in November. Troell, 45, worked for an organization affiliated to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Iraqi interior ministry on Thursday announced that the judiciary had convicted four Iraqi nationals and one Iranian national in relation to Troell’s killing, noting that the suspects had confessed to the murder after they were confronted with "overwhelming evidence."
Including pliars and a blowtorch
Four other suspects in the killing are currently being pursued and investigated by Iraqi security forces, the ministry added, stressing that Baghdad will not allow any agression against foreign nationals in the country.
"It is critical that all those responsible for the brutal, premeditated liquidation of Mr. Troell face justice and accountability," read a statement from US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, welcoming the Iraqi court’s ruling.
Miller renewed condolences to Troell’s family, expressing hope that the court’s decision brings them "some measure of justice."
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudan
......i ordered a probe into the incident immediately after Troell’s killing and an investigative committee was formed in hopes of reaching the perpetrators "as soon as possible."
During a meeting with Sudani in November, US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski expressed her appreciation for the Iraqi government’s efforts in pursuit of Troell’s killers.
Hundreds of foreign nationals were kidnapped and dozens were killed across Iraq after US forces entered Baghdad in 2003. Security risks to foreigners visiting or working Iraq have noticeably decreased in recent years, but still continue to lurk as a potential threat.
A source revealed on Thursday the secrets of the trial of the killers of an American citizen in Baghdad.
Shafaq News Agency investigated the sidelines of the trial and the pressures that accompanied it, leading to the final verdict that was issued on Thursday, after three pleadings in al-Karkh Criminal Court.
Several sources informed Shafaq News Agency that the verdict of life imprisonment was issued against the killers of American citizen Steven Carroll,
...not at all the same name as in the report above, but the circumstances otherwise appear similar...
who are five defendants, four of whom are Iraqi nationals and one of whom is an Iranian national with the rank of captain in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and works as an advisor in one of the Iraqi security agencies and resides in one of the headquarters in al-Jadriya area.The sources indicated that the other four defendants are Iraqi citizens belonging to multiple factions, and the defendants admitted to carrying out the killing operation after being investigated, and their case was referred to al-Karkh Criminal Court.
Regarding the circumstances of the crime, the sources pointed out that the operation was to kidnap the American citizen, not to kill him, but the defendants executed it incorrectly and killed him. They were arrested after being followed up by the Intelligence Agency in the Ministry of Interior to reach the criminals through multiple proven evidence, and they were arrested at a house in al-Rusafa area.
Another source said that the judicial investigation began with them (the defendants), up to the referral of their files to the Karkh Criminal Court, despite all the pressures exerted by the parties to which they belong. In contrast, Tehran abandoned the Iranian defendant after their failure in the kidnapping operation at the beginning, but in the end, Tehran and Iraqi parties exerted great pressure to withdraw the defendant to Tehran and hold him accountable there.
The Iraqi judiciary, earlier on Thursday, issued a life sentence against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard officer and Iraqis who killed an American in Baghdad.