In May 2017, President Donald Trump pardoned former Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna, who was convicted by a military court in 2009 for killing an Iraqi prisoner suspected of being part of Al-Qaeda.
Behenna was initially sentenced to 25 years, but he was released on parole in 2014.
A military court convicted Behenna of killing Ali Mansur, who he believed was an Al-Qaeda operative who was responsible for blowing up an improvised bomb that killed two American soldiers. According to trial evidence, Behenna was ordered to return Mansur to his home. but instead took him to an isolated area, stripped him, bounded and blindfolded him, and interrogated him at gunpoint.
“This is your last chance to tell the information or you will die,” Behenna told Mansur.
Mansur said that he would talk, court documents said, but still Behenna shot him.
Behenna claimed self-defense, claiming the prisoner lunged for his gun.
The New York Times, citing court documents, said Behenna reportedly told other soldiers after the incident that “he would do it again, and he did not feel bad about it because he just lost two guys.”
Michael Breen, president and CEO of Human Rights First, criticized the pardon.
“President Trump’s pardon of a service member convicted of murder by the U.S. military undermines the morale of our armed forces, erodes our allies’ trust of the armed services overseas and — by showing that we won’t hold our forces to the same standards we demand of others — places our service members in greater danger in combat zones and beyond,” Breen said in a statement.
