By DPA
Washington : Blackwater USA private security guards have not been granted immunity from criminal prosecution in connection to the deadly September shootings in Baghdad, the US Justice Department said.
“Any suggestion that the Blackwater employees in question have been given immunity from federal criminal prosecution is inaccurate,” spokesman Dean Boyd said in a statement Tuesday, refusing to discuss details of the case because it remains under investigation.
News that the State Department had granted limited immunity to some of the private contractors surfaced Monday, raising questions about the ability of the government to press charges against anyone who may have unlawfully fired their weapons while guarding a diplomatic convoy Sep 16.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said earlier Tuesday that limited protections had been given to some of the guards during its investigation, but that the department was not permitted to issue immunity.
The Iraqi government says the 17 people killed were unarmed civilians, a charge disputed by Blackwater, which says the convoy came under attack. McCormack said the protections given to the security contractors “would not preclude a successful criminal prosecution”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to crack down on the operations of private security firms in Iraq hired by the State Department, Pentagon and businesses to protect personnel.
The Iraqi government Tuesday approved a draft law lifting the immunity from prosecution that was granted to the security firms during the US administration of Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003.
“The cabinet decided that non-Iraqi security firms and non-Iraqi staff and contractors will be subjected to Iraqi laws and legal system, and immunity will be rescinded,” cabinet spokesman, Ali al-Dabagh, said in a statement carried by the Voices of Iraq news agency.