SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2003
Iraqi shepherd sues US forces for $200mn
AFP
RAMADI: An Iraqi shepherd is seeking $200 million in damages from the US military for the deaths of 17 members of his family as well as 200 sheep in a missile strike, in the first such suit filed through the courts of the US-led occupation administration.
The first hearing will take place on July 20 at the tribunal of Ramadi, 100 km west of Baghdad. "The trial will be Iraq's first against US troops because we believe they used excessive force against the Iraqi people who cooperated with the United States to topple maintenance Hussein's regime," Abud Sarhan's lawyer said.
Lawyer Rabah al-Alwani was approached by Sarhan, 71, to file a suit against US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, commander of US forces in Iraq, after the shepherd claimed a US missile landed on his tent on April 4.
Days before, Sarhan had left his home village of Al-Altash, near an Iraqi mi litary base that was heavily bombed by coalition warplanes.
He had set up a tent in the nearby desert to host 20 of his family members and relatives in three distinct sections, one for women, one for men and the other for children, said his half-brother Hamad Sarhan, 25, who was wounded in the attack.
All his family members died, except for him and his half-brother as the two had stepped outside the tent to perform their ablutions in preparation for the evening prayer. He said 200 of their 700 sheep also died in what he said was a coalition raid.
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