An Australian security contractor has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan for fatally shooting an Afghan colleague and trying to blame the death on the Taliban, Australian and Afghan officials said today.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his government would try to prevent the former Australian soldier from being executed - an act that could raise tensions between Afghanistan and its largest non-NATO contributor of international security forces.
Australia strongly opposes the death penalty and regularly lobbies governments to commute the sentences of Australians convicted abroad of capital crimes.
Australian Robert William Langdon, 38, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death last October in a court in Kabul, and an appeals court confirmed the verdict last week, Australian officials said today. They were confirming a media report Wednesday that detailed the case for the first time.
The Australian newspaper reported that Langdon was working for US-based private security company Four Horsemen International and had admitted killing the Afghan guard last May during a heated argument about security for a convoy.
The newspaper said the convoy was ambushed by suspected Taliban in Wardak province south of Kabul but escaped to the provincial capital, where the two men argued about whether to continue.
Langdon told the court he shot the Afghan guard in self-defence as he reached for his pistol, though other witnesses disputed this account, the newspaper said. The court also heard that Langdon threw a hand grenade into the truck carrying the guard's body and ordered other guards to fire into the air to simulate a Taliban attack, it said.
Abdul-Salam Kazi Zada, an official at the Kabul appeals court, gave a slightly different account to The Associated Press news agency. He said the convoy had stopped around sundown during a trip from Kabul to volatile Ghazni province and that the Afghan guard, Mohammad Karim, had quarreled with the Australian, saying it was not safe to go on.
He said the Australian shot Karim with a Kalashnikov rifle, put the body in the back of a vehicle, and the convoy continued on. At some point, the convoy stopped again and the Australian instructed other guards to fire in the air, and threw a grenade into the back of the vehicle carrying Karim's body, Zada said.
He said Langdon reported to authorities that the convoy had come under ambush, but that other guards told authorities that the ambush was staged. The Australian was arrested at the airport as he tried to leave the country, Zada said.
Mr Rudd said today that Australian officials were lobbying the Afghan government for clemency for Langdon, but played down the chances of success.
"I don't think it would be wise to predict or project the effectiveness of any particular intervention by me," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio.
Australia has around 1,500 troops in Afghanistan battling Taliban insurgents and training Afghan security forces — the largest international contingent outside the US-European alliance.
Just a handful of Australians have been executed overseas in recent years, mostly for drug crimes. Most recently, Van Tong Nguyen was hanged in Singapore in 2005 for heroin importation despite high-level appeals from the government.
Langdon's family said in a statement Wednesday he was appealing the latest ruling and his lawyers were conducting negotiations aimed at "forestalling possible serious penalties." It did not elaborate.
Langdon could escape execution by striking a deal to pay compensation to the victim's family under a principle known as ibra, or forgiveness, that is recognized in Afghanistan and some other countries governed by Islamic laws.
The family said it would not comment further on the case because it could jeopardise the negotiations and appeal.
AP