The
Mahmudiyah rape and killings were a series of
war crimes committed by five
U.S. Army soldiers during the
U.S. occupation of Iraq, involving the
gang-rape and
murder of 14-year-old
Iraqi girl
Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the murder of her family on March 12, 2006. It occurred in the family's house to the southwest of
Yusufiyah, a village to the west of the city of
Mahmoudiyah, Iraq. Other members of al-Janabi's family murdered by American soldiers include her 34-year-old mother Fakhriyah Taha Muhasen, 45-year-old father Qassim Hamza Raheem, and six-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al-Janabi.
[1] The two remaining survivors of the family, al-Janabi's 9-year-old brother Ahmed and 11-year-old brother Mohammed, were at school during the massacre and orphaned by the event.
Five U.S. Army soldiers of the
502nd Infantry Regiment were charged with rape and murder:
Specialist Paul E. Cortez (born December 1982), Specialist James P. Barker (born 1982),
Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman (born 1985), Private First Class Bryan L. Howard, and Private First Class Steven Dale Green (May 2, 1985 – February 17, 2014).
[2] Green was discharged from the U.S. Army for
mental instability before the crimes were known by his command, whereas Cortez, Barker, and Spielman were tried by a military court martial, convicted, and sentenced to decades in prison.
[2] Green was tried and convicted in a United States civilian court and sentenced to
life in prison.
[3] He died in 2014 from suicide. Howard was sentenced to 27 months in prison, demoted, and dishonorably discharged.
[4]
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