thedrifter
10-13-06, 07:56 AM
US troops unlawfully killed UK journalist, coroner finds
A British inquest has ruled one of Britain's most experienced journalists was unlawfully killed by US soldiers in Iraq, prompting calls for the perpetrators to be tried for war crimes.
Veteran war correspondent Terry Lloyd, 50, who worked for British television company ITN, was killed in March 2003 in southern Iraq as he reported from the front line during the first few days of the US-led invasion.
"He was fired on by American soldiers as a minibus carried wounded people away," Coroner Andrew Walker said at the conclusion of the inquest, which US soldiers declined to attend.
"I have no doubt it was an unlawful act of fire on the minibus."
Mr Walker says he intends to write to the Attorney-General and the Director of Public Prosecutions in an effort to bring those responsible for Lloyd's death before a British court.
Louis Charalambous, the Lloyd family's lawyer, says those responsible for his death should be brought to trial, for what he termed "a very serious war crime."
"It was a despicable, deliberate, vengeful act," he added.
He says the unlawful killing verdict had been "inescapable" and has come about because "US forces appear to have allowed their soldiers to behave like trigger-happy cowboys."
Mr Charalambous says the Marines who fired on Lloyd, and their superiors, should stand trial for murder - a sentiment echoed by Lloyd's employers.
David Mannion, the company's editor-in-chief, says ITN will support any moves to bring those "responsible for Terry's death to account before a court of law."
Lloyd, who had reported from Iraq, Cambodia, Bosnia and Kosovo during his award-winning career, was initially wounded in the stomach.
He was then shot in the head by US troops after he had been picked up and put in an Iraqi minibus, the court heard.
His translator, Hussein Othman, was also killed while French cameraman Fred Nerac, is still missing believed dead.
The other cameraman, Daniel Demoustier, was the only one to survive.
-Reuters
Ellie
A British inquest has ruled one of Britain's most experienced journalists was unlawfully killed by US soldiers in Iraq, prompting calls for the perpetrators to be tried for war crimes.
Veteran war correspondent Terry Lloyd, 50, who worked for British television company ITN, was killed in March 2003 in southern Iraq as he reported from the front line during the first few days of the US-led invasion.
"He was fired on by American soldiers as a minibus carried wounded people away," Coroner Andrew Walker said at the conclusion of the inquest, which US soldiers declined to attend.
"I have no doubt it was an unlawful act of fire on the minibus."
Mr Walker says he intends to write to the Attorney-General and the Director of Public Prosecutions in an effort to bring those responsible for Lloyd's death before a British court.
Louis Charalambous, the Lloyd family's lawyer, says those responsible for his death should be brought to trial, for what he termed "a very serious war crime."
"It was a despicable, deliberate, vengeful act," he added.
He says the unlawful killing verdict had been "inescapable" and has come about because "US forces appear to have allowed their soldiers to behave like trigger-happy cowboys."
Mr Charalambous says the Marines who fired on Lloyd, and their superiors, should stand trial for murder - a sentiment echoed by Lloyd's employers.
David Mannion, the company's editor-in-chief, says ITN will support any moves to bring those "responsible for Terry's death to account before a court of law."
Lloyd, who had reported from Iraq, Cambodia, Bosnia and Kosovo during his award-winning career, was initially wounded in the stomach.
He was then shot in the head by US troops after he had been picked up and put in an Iraqi minibus, the court heard.
His translator, Hussein Othman, was also killed while French cameraman Fred Nerac, is still missing believed dead.
The other cameraman, Daniel Demoustier, was the only one to survive.
-Reuters
Ellie