Court martial hearing in Iraq for US officer charged with beating detainee

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2003

TIKRIT, Iraq (AFP) — US forces began a court-martial hearing of charges against a lieutenant colonel accused of beating an Iraqi detainee, in the first legal proceedings to be reported against such a high-ranking US officer in Iraq.

Lieutenant-Colonel Allen West is charged on three counts -- beating Yahya Jhodri Hamoody, threatening to kill him and firing his gun near the detainee's head during interrogation on August 20.

West's driver, appearing as a government witness, said the officer waved his gun in the air and later fired it after Hamoody refused to talk.

The driver, Private Michael Johnson, 20, also said thhe Iraqi was beaten during the interrogation at a detention center in Taji, outside Baghdad.

"When he was not giving information that was...