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Life for US soldier's Iraq crimes Life for US soldier's Iraq crimes
(about 1 hour later)
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.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.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.
The jury in Kentucky could not agree unanimously on his punishment and he was spared the death penalty. Green was convicted in May but the jury could not unanimously agree a sentence and he was spared the death penalty.
Four other soldiers are serving time for their roles in the crime.Four other soldiers are serving time for their roles in the crime.
Their sentences range between 27 months and 110 years. Three received life sentences, while the fourth was jailed for 27 months for acting as a lookout. Green was considered the ringleader.
Green was considered the ringleader. International outrage
Judge Thomas Russell confirmed Green would serve five consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole. District Judge Thomas Russell on Friday confirmed that Green would have no chance of parole.
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 before torching the building. In 2006 Green and three other soldiers entered the home of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi near Mahmudiya, 30km (20 miles) south of Baghdad.
Green was discharged from the 101st Airborne Division before the case came to light. Steven Green on operations in Mullah Fayed, Iraq, in December 2005
They shot dead her mother, father and sister, then raped Abeer before shooting her and setting fire to her remains.
The crime was planned while Green and the other soldiers drank whiskey and played card games at a traffic checkpoint where they were stationed.
The court heard that Green was seen by army mental health professionals after he had talked about a desire to kill Iraqi civilians.
He was sent back to his unit with medication to help him sleep after a nurse concluded he would not act out his thoughts.
The defence argued there was a lack of military leadership in the 101st Airborne Division.
The BBC's Imtiaz Tyab in Washington says that when details of the killings were revealed months after they took place, they sparked international outrage and led to the retaliatory killing of several US soldiers by Iraqi insurgents.
Green was discharged from the 101st Airborne before the case came to light.
He was the first ex-soldier to be charged under a US law that allows prosecution for crimes committed overseas.He was the first ex-soldier to be charged under a US law that allows prosecution for crimes committed overseas.