Iraqi Court Gives Briton 20 Years Over Slayings

Feb. 20: Danny Fitzsimons, center, walks out of a court in Baghdad. (AP)

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi court on Monday convicted a British man and sentenced him to 20 years in prison over the shooting deaths of two contractors, making him the first Westerner convicted in an Iraqi court since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

Danny Fitzsimons, 30, was found guilty in the 2009 fatal shootings of a British and Australian contractor who worked with him and with attempting to kill an Iraqi guard.

Fitzsimons, who had been facing the death penalty, told The Associated Press as he was being led from the courtroom by Iraqi guards that he was happy with the sentence. But when asked whether he thought the trial was fair, he said: "No."

The former security contractor from Rochdale, England, admitted to shooting the men but claimed it was self-defense. The men had been out drinking and the other two tried to kill him during an altercation, Fitzsimons said during previous testimony. He also claimed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In handing down the verdict, the head judge of the three-judge panel said Fitzsimons' mental condition was taken into consideration when deciding on the sentence.

"Danny Fitzsimons, the court has found established evidence that you killed the two slain men and attempted to kill the third," said the judge.

"So the court issues its sentence according to ... the Iraqi criminal code and sentences you to 20 years in prison," the judge added.

Fitzsimons was accompanied by his Iraqi lawyer, Tariq Harb; his family and British lawyer, who attended a court session last week, were not in attendance.

"This is a very good sentence. I saved him from the gallows," Harb told reporters afterward. Fitzsimons now has 30 days to appeal, which Harb said he would do.

Last week, Fitzsimons' British lawyer, John Tripple, said the family and British authorities were trying to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government to have Fitzsimons transferred to a British prison if he is not given the death penalty.

Harb said that could be possible since the "relations between the two countries are strong now and diplomacy can bear remarkable influence."

A U.S.-Iraqi security pact that took effect Jan. 1, 2009, lifted immunity for foreign contractors, an important development for Iraqis who viewed the security contractors operating in Iraq as reckless and acting with impunity.

A September 2007 shooting in Baghdad involving another security firm, the North Carolina-based Blackwater Worldwide, now known as Xe, left 17 Iraqi civilians dead and galvanized Iraqi authorities to push to lift the immunity.