Picture source: Barbadostoday
Outgoing President Donald Trump has pardoned four former Blackwater operators charged with massacring 17 Iraqi civilians, including two children, back in 2007.
The now pardoned Blackwater personnel -Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard, and Nicholas Slatten- were part of an armored convoy moving through the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on September 16 2007. All four used machine-guns, grenade launchers, and sniper fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians who had gathered at Nisour Square on that date. As a result of their actions, seventeen people were killed, including two young children. The grisly incident became known as the Nisour Square massacre.
A U.S. court found the foursome guilty on one count of murder, three counts of manslaughter, and firearms offences. Slatten was sentenced to life in prison, and the other three received sentences of 30 years in jail each.
Donald Trump has now issued pardons for these four individuals, a decision that has caused widespread outrage and criticism.
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