Jordan court jails soldier for killing 3 US trainers
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E-mail Xinhua, July 18, 2017
A Jordan court on Monday sentenced a soldier to life over the killing of three American military trainers outside an army base last year, local media reported.
Maarik al-Tawaiha, 39, was found guilty of shooting the trainers as they waited to enter the King Faisal base at Al-Jafr in southern Jordan on November 4.
The court sentenced Tawaiha to "hard labour for life", a term that usually lasts 20 years but could stretch to a full lifetime, it said.
The prosecution in June accused him of "voluntary manslaughter" over the deaths of Matthew Lewellen, Kevin McEnroe and James Moriarty.
He was also charged with "insulting the dignity and reputation of the armed forces and violating military orders".
In its ruling, the court said the incident had happened when vehicles carrying the trainers approached the gate of the base.
Tawaiha, who was in a guard post at the gate, told the court he had opened fire on the cars carrying the American trainers because he suspected an attack on the base.
The shots killed the three Americans and wounded a Jordanian soldier.
The King Faisal air base hosts trainers of various nationalities including Americans.
Jordan, which hosts some 2,200 American military personnel, is a key American ally and a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
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