Shafaq News investigates killing of American citizen in Baghdad

Shafaq News / 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, 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.