A British Royal Marine convicted of murdering a wounded Taliban insurgent was sentenced on Friday to a minimum of 10 years in prison.
A military judge told Sergeant Alexander Blackman he had “betrayed your corps and all British service personnel who have served in Afghanistan.”
Two other marines were acquitted of the September 2011 killing in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand Province. They were charged after military authorities found footage of the incident on a helmet camera belonging to one of the men.
Blackman was recorded shooting the Afghan, who had been seriously wounded in an Apache helicopter strike, in the chest at close range with a pistol before quoting a phrase from Shakespeare: “Shuffle off this mortal coil.”
“Obviously this doesn’t go anywhere, fellas. I just broke the Geneva Convention,” he added.
The three marines were tried anonymously, but a judge ruled on Thursday that Blackman could be identified.
He is the first British service member convicted of murder since deployments to Afghanistan began in 2001.
British troops operate under rules of engagement, largely derived from the Geneva Convention, that dictate under what circumstances they are allowed to open fire.
Experts say the military has been strict about enforcing the rules after a disastrous period in Iraq, where there were multiple allegations of torture and abuse by British troops.
The murder in Helmand came five months into a six-month deployment during which Blackman’s brigade had seen seven troops killed and several dozen wounded.
During his trial, Blackman said he had fired his gun out of a “lack of self-control, momentary lapse in my judgement,” but claimed he thought the insurgent was already dead.
Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett told Blackman: “You treated that Afghan man with contempt and murdered him in cold blood. In one moment, you undermined much of the good work done day in, day out by British forces and potentially increased the risk of revenge attacks against your fellow service personnel.”
Blackman was sentenced to life with no possibility of parole for 10 years, and dismissed with disgrace from the armed forces.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not