WASHINGTON, 30 April 2005 — A military jury on Thursday sentenced Sgt. Hasan Akbar to death for the 2003 grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his officers and wounded 14 others at an army camp in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.
The same jury last week took 2 1/2 hours to convict him of two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted premeditated murder. The sentence will be the subject of an automatic appeal. If Akbar is executed, it will be by lethal injection, instead of a military-style firing squad.
Prosecutors said Akbar, 34, launched the grenade attack on members of the 101st Airborne Division in March 2003 at Camp Pennsylvania because he was concerned about US troops killing fellow Muslims in the Iraq war. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve “maximum carnage” on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.
“Sgt. Akbar executed that attack with a cool mind,” prosecutor Capt. Robert McGovern said during closing arguments, cocking Akbar’s unloaded M-4 rifle and pulling the trigger twice for emphasis. “He sought maximum carnage.”
The mothers of the slain soldiers wept during closing arguments as prosecutors flashed pictures of their dead bodies on a screen.
Akbar’s father, John Akbar, said his son complained in vain to his superiors about religious and racial harassment before the attack. The defense never introduced any witnesses to testify about any such harassment.
Akbar, who spoke briefly to the jury before being sentenced, did not explain if religion was a reason for the attack, but he did apologize for his actions.
“I want to apologize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeopardy, and I had no other options. I also want to ask you for your forgiveness.”
A defense psychiatrist testified that Akbar was sane and knew the consequences of his actions when he threw grenades into tents occupied by fellow soldiers during the 2003 attack.
Dr. George Woods Jr. initially testified that Akbar may have suffered from schizophrenia and depression at the time of the attack.
But under cross-examination by lead army prosecutor Lt. Col. Michael Mulligan, Woods acknowledged he had ruled out a diagnosis of insanity.
Woods reluctantly said “yes” when asked if Akbar “understood the natural consequences of the act” when he threw the grenades. Woods attempted to explain, but Mulligan pressed simply for the yes or no answer.
Woods also said Akbar understood that a grenade was a lethal weapon and exhibited an ability to make plans, although he noted that Akbar’s plans were frequently unsuccessful.
“He is a hate-filled, ideologically driven murderer,” chief prosecutor Mulligan said. He added that Akbar wrote in his diary in 1997, “My life will not be complete unless America is destroyed.”
The trial was held under tight security. Last week, Akbar fought with a military police officer and is being brought into the building in leg and wrist shackles.
Akbar stood at attention as the verdict was read by the colonel who headed the jury panel, biting his lip but giving no other outward sign of emotion.
If sentenced to death, Akbar would become the sixth soldier on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Akbar is the first American since the Vietnam era to be prosecuted on charges of murdering a fellow soldier during wartime.
