Former soldier indicted in Iraq rape, murder

updated 8:58 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A former U.S. soldier was indicted by a civilian grand jury Thursday for the rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the murder of her family in March.

The indictment charges that Steven Green, 21, and four other soldiers who are still in the Army sexually abused 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, then killed her and her father, mother and 6-year-old sister. Green is accused of trying to burn the bodies to conceal the crime.

Another soldier is charged with covering up the March 12 crime in Mahmoudiya.

Among the charges brought against Green were murder, murder in perpetration of aggravated sexual abuse, conspiracy, sexual abuse of a minor and obstruction of justice.

If convicted, Green, who was discharged from the Army's 101st Airborne Division for a "personality disorder," could receive the death penalty, prosecutors said in a statement.

He is to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Louisville.

The others charged in the gang rape and murder face court-martial at Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the 101st Airborne Division, with some facing the death penalty.

The Mahmoudiya case is one of several in which U.S. servicemen are suspected of killing Iraqi civilians. It sparked outrage among Iraqis and prompted Iraqi officials to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

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