THE IDEAL MUSLIMAH

A former US soldier convicted of rape and murder while serving in Iraq will spend life in prison, a judge in the US state of Kentucky has confirmed. Steven Green, 24, is to serve five consecutive life sentences for raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing her and her family near Baghdad in 2006.

Green was considered the ringleader. The jury in Kentucky could not agree unanimously on his punishment and he was spared the death penalty.  Judge Thomas Russell confirmed Green would serve five consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole.  Four other soldiers are serving time for theirroles in the crime, their sentences range between 27 months and 110 years.

Three of the soldiers had admitted holding down Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, raping her and then killing her, her parents and her younger sister at the family's home in Mahmudiya [in Iraaq] before torching the building.

Abeer Hamza lived with her mother and father (Fakhriya Taha Muhasen, 34, and Qassim Hamza Raheem, 45, respectively) and their three other children, a daughter – 6-year-old Hadeel Qassim Hamza, a son – 13-year-old Mohammed and his younger brother. Their house was situated approximately 200 meters (220 yd) from a six-man U.S. traffic checkpoint, southwest of the village of Yusufiyah, which lies west of the larger township of Al-Mahmudiyah (in the coalition-termed area "Triangle of Death").

According to her neighbors, Abeer spent most of her days at home as her parents would not allow her to go to school because of security concerns. The American soldiers would often watch Abeer from their checkpoint, doing her chores and tending the garden. The neighbors had warned Abeer's father of this but he replied it was not a problem as she was just a small girl.

Abeer's brother Mohammed (who survived along with his younger brother due to being at school at the time of the killings) recalls that the soldiers often searched the house. And on one such occasion PFC Steven Dale Green ran his index finger down Abeer's cheek, which had terrified the 14 year old girl.

Abeer's mother told her relatives before the murders that, whenever she caught the soldiers staring at Abeer, they would give her the thumbs-up sign, point to her daughter and say "Very good, very good." Evidently this had concerned her and she made plans for Abeer to spend nights sleeping at her uncle's (Ahmad Qassim's) house.

On March 12, 2006 the soldiers (from the 502nd Infantry Regiment) at the checkpoint had been drinking alcohol and discussing plans to rape Abeer. In broad daylight they walked to the house (not wearing their uniforms)[12] a nd separated Abeer and her family into two different rooms. Steven Green then murdered her parents and younger sister, while two other soldiers r aped Abeer. He then emerged from the room saying "I just killed them, all are dead. "

The neighbors were among the first to discover the scene. One recalled "The poor girl, she was so beautiful she lay there, one leg was stretched and the other bent and her dress was lifted up to her neck." He then raped Abeer, shot her in the head and proceeded (along with the other soldiers) to set fire to the house and bodies.

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BBC: Life for US soldier's Iraq crimes