An Iraqi court yesterday convicted a British man and sentenced him to 20 years in prison over the shooting deaths of two contractors, making him the first Westerner convicted in an Iraqi court since the 2003 US invasion.
Danny Fitzsimons, 30, was found guilty in the 2009 fatal shootings of a British and Australian contractor who worked with him and with attempting to kill an Iraqi guard.
Fitzsimons, who had been facing the death penalty, said as he was being led from the courtroom by Iraqi guards that he was happy with the sentence.
When asked whether he thought the trial was fair, he said: “No.”
The former security contractor from Rochdale, England, admitted to shooting the men, but claimed it was self-defense.
During earlier testimony, Fitzsimons said that he and co-workers Paul McGuigan and Darren Hoare had been drinking whiskey when a fight broke out.
In the quarrel, he said the two other men pulled guns on him and he had no choice but to shoot them with his pistol.
Covered with blood, Fitzsimons fled the scene and was running toward the British embassy when an Iraqi guard pointed his Kalashinkov rifle at him and asked him to stop. Fitzsimons shot the guard in his left thigh.
All three foreigners and the Iraqi guard worked for a British security firm, ArmorGroup.
Fitzsimons also claimed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In handing down the verdict, the head judge of the three-judge panel said Fitzsimons’ mental condition was taken into consideration when deciding on the sentence.
“Danny Fitzsimons, the court has found established evidence that you killed the two slain men and attempted to kill the third,” the judge said. “So the court issues its sentence according to ... the Iraqi criminal code and sentences you to 20 years in prison.”
Fitzsimons was accompanied by his Iraqi lawyer, Tariq Harb; his family and British lawyer, who attended a court session last week, were not in attendance.
“This is a very good sentence. I saved him from the gallows,” Harb told reporters afterward.
Fitzsimons has 30 days to appeal, which Harb said he would do.
Officials from the British embassy were in the audience during yesterday hearing, and highlighted the independence of the Iraqi court.
“This was a decision made by the Iraqi court. We respect the independence of the Iraqi judicial system,” said an embassy spokesman who did not give his name.
Last week, Fitzsimons’ British lawyer, John Tripple, said the family and British authorities were trying to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government to have Fitzsimons transferred to a British prison if he was not given the death penalty.
Harb said that could be possible since the “relations between the two countries are strong now and diplomacy can bear remarkable influence.”
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