On Thursday, the US State Department welcomed a decision issued by the Iraqi judiciary to life imprisonment for those convicted of killing an American citizen.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said statementWe welcome the Iraqi court’s decision to convict and imprison several individuals on terrorism charges for their role in the killing of US citizen Stephen Troell.
“It is imperative that all those responsible for the brutal and premeditated assassination of Mr. Troell face justice and accountability,” he stressed.
“We reiterate our condolences to Mr. Troell’s family and hope the verdict will bring them some form of justice,” he added.
On Thursday, an Iraqi court issued a life sentence to an Iranian and four Iraqis for being shot dead in a Baghdad street in November 2022, according to AFP from two judicial sources.
A judicial source told Agence France-Presse that the Karkh court in Baghdad “issued life sentences to five people, one of whom was an Iranian and four Iraqis.”
The source said the five men admitted their intent was to kidnap Troel and release him “for ransom”, not to kill him.
On November 7, 2022, Trowell was shot and killed while he was driving his car with his family near a market in Karrada, according to a source in the Ministry of Interior at the time.
Neither this official nor any other security source with whom Agence France-Presse spoke was able to provide the reasons that prompted this rare assassination of a foreigner in Baghdad. However, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, assigned the Minister of Interior, Abdul Amir al-Shammari, to investigate the incident to find out its circumstances.
Having lived in Baghdad for at least two years with his wife and their children, Troell taught English, according to US media, and demonstrated on social networks his commitment to Christianity.
Despite the improvement in the security situation in Iraq since the Baghdad government declared its “victory” over ISIS extremists in 2017, political violence continues.
After the October 2019 protests, many anti-authority activists were subjected to a wide campaign of assassinations, kidnappings and threats.
These murders and kidnappings were never made public, but activists point fingers at pro-Iranian groups, which are key in Iraq, and fret that no one is ever held accountable.
In July 2020, the expert on extremist movements and civil society figure, Hisham al-Hashemi, was assassinated in front of his home in Baghdad.
In 2017, the Small Arms Survey identified 7.6 million small arms for the country of then 39 million people.
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2023-09-01 02:07:46
