The decision of US President Donald Trump to pardon the accused of a massacre in Iraq was described as unfair by the relative of one of the victims.
“This is wrong, it is unjust,” said Faris Fadel, brother of Osama Abbas, one of 14 shot by US contractors in 2007 for the security company Blackwater.
“How is it possible for people to be released with blood on their hands?”
At the time, the Blackwater Company was hired to protect American diplomats in Iraq. Four years had passed since the American invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
The four contractors, who worked for the State Department, opened fire in Nisoor Plaza, a busy vehicle bypass, killing 14 Iraqis, including a small boy, and injuring several others.
The defendants are Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard. Trump pardoned them last Tuesday.
The defendants’ lawyers say they were shot by Iraqi insurgents. Prosecutors claimed the contractors opened fire without provocation. In Iraq, the event is considered a massacre.
“They were all civilians, it wasn’t their fault,” said Faris Fade. The contractors “destroyed my house, my family”.