Defence Contractors Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison

Four former private security contractors, employed by the US firm Blackwater, have been given lengthy jail terms for their part in the fatal shooting of 14 Iraqi civilians. 

The men had been part of security detail escorting a US diplomatic convoy through Baghdad when they opened fire with machine guns and grenade launchers in a crowded square.

The four claimed they were acting in self-defence and had come under fire from insurgents.

Prosecutors in the US successfully argued that what happened on September 16, 2007 was an unprovoked ambush on unsuspecting civilians.

Nicholas Slatten, who fired first and found guilty of murder, was sentenced to life in prison.

Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard will all serve a minimum of 30 years without the prospect of parole for multiple counts of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and using firearms while committing a felony.

The killings saw Blackwater expelled from Iraq and came to symbolise the worst excesses of a contractor to whom the US government had outsourced many of its military responsibilities.

North Carolina based Blackwater has subsequently undergone a series of name changes and sales and is now called Academi.