Hasan Akbar Convicted

Thu, Apr 21, 2005 at 5:51:51 pm PDT

Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar has been convicted of murder: Military Jury Convicts Sergeant of Murder.

An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.

Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve “maximum carnage” on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.

The verdict came after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations following seven days of testimony in a court-martial — the first time since the Vietnam era that an American has been prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime.

Not a single mainstream media source will explicitly make the connection, but Hasan Akbar’s attack on his fellow soldiers was thoroughly grounded in his Islamic belief that killing Muslims while in the service of infidels was forbidden: Expert: Akbar Sane During Grenade Attack.

Prosecutors have said Akbar planned the attack and told investigators he carried it out because he was worried United States forces would harm fellow Muslims. Last week, the prosecution introduced diary entries in which Akbar wrote he might have to kill his “battle buddies.”