refuse_resist
21st April 2005, 10:29
Father of Accused Soldier Wants Probe
By ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
FORT BRAGG, N.C. Apr 20, 2005 — The father of an Army sergeant accused of killing two officers at the start of the Iraq war urged the military Wednesday to investigate religious and racial harassment he said his son faced from fellow soliders before he unleashed the grenade and rifle attack.
John Akbar's statement to The Associated Press titled "Concerned Father Seeks Justice For Loved Son" came as testimony wrapped up in Sgt. Hasan Akbar's court-martial on murder charges that carry a possible death penalty.
Jurors were to return Thursday for closing arguments and the start of deliberations.
The elder Akbar said his son had complained to superiors about threats, slurs and taunts he faced as the only black and Muslim in his platoon, but little was done before the March 2003 attack in Kuwait that also wounded 14.
Akbar's father said his son was placed in platoon with "individuals tattooed with Nazi, KKK and Confederate Flag symbols."
"They would mock him while he prayed and say, 'Look at you kissing the ground for your god and praying five times a day. … You act like them, pray like them, and look like them, so we might just mistake you for one of them."'
Lt. Col. Ed Loomis, spokesman for the 101st at Fort Campbell, Ky., said there was no investigation of incidents described in the father's statement beyond what was happening in the court-martial. He said the division doesn't tolerate extremist behavior.
Akbar allegedly confessed several times to tossing grenades into the tents of sleeping soldiers and then raking them with rifle fire.
Akbar's lawyers don't dispute his responsibility but are trying to spare him a possible death sentence by portraying him as mentally incapable of premeditating the attack.
The statement from Akbar's father is similar to entries from Hasan Akbar's diary that were introduced by the prosecution to show how he had planned the attack.
"I suppose they want to punk me or just humiliate me," Akbar wrote more than a month before.
"I am not going to do anything about it as long as I stay here. But as soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible," he wrote.
According to testimony in the court-martial, Akbar was asked at least twice by officers if he had problems with going into Iraq because he is Muslim and Akbar said he didn't.
The father also said Akbar graduated first in his class from a Los Angeles high school with a dropout rate of 85 percent.
"My concern is how did an upstanding citizen like my son, my pride and joy, get to into this situation?" John Akbar said. "He has absolutely no previous encounters with the law and does not use alcohol or drugs. He has always been a role model for his younger brothers and sisters."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=688966
By ESTES THOMPSON Associated Press Writer
FORT BRAGG, N.C. Apr 20, 2005 — The father of an Army sergeant accused of killing two officers at the start of the Iraq war urged the military Wednesday to investigate religious and racial harassment he said his son faced from fellow soliders before he unleashed the grenade and rifle attack.
John Akbar's statement to The Associated Press titled "Concerned Father Seeks Justice For Loved Son" came as testimony wrapped up in Sgt. Hasan Akbar's court-martial on murder charges that carry a possible death penalty.
Jurors were to return Thursday for closing arguments and the start of deliberations.
The elder Akbar said his son had complained to superiors about threats, slurs and taunts he faced as the only black and Muslim in his platoon, but little was done before the March 2003 attack in Kuwait that also wounded 14.
Akbar's father said his son was placed in platoon with "individuals tattooed with Nazi, KKK and Confederate Flag symbols."
"They would mock him while he prayed and say, 'Look at you kissing the ground for your god and praying five times a day. … You act like them, pray like them, and look like them, so we might just mistake you for one of them."'
Lt. Col. Ed Loomis, spokesman for the 101st at Fort Campbell, Ky., said there was no investigation of incidents described in the father's statement beyond what was happening in the court-martial. He said the division doesn't tolerate extremist behavior.
Akbar allegedly confessed several times to tossing grenades into the tents of sleeping soldiers and then raking them with rifle fire.
Akbar's lawyers don't dispute his responsibility but are trying to spare him a possible death sentence by portraying him as mentally incapable of premeditating the attack.
The statement from Akbar's father is similar to entries from Hasan Akbar's diary that were introduced by the prosecution to show how he had planned the attack.
"I suppose they want to punk me or just humiliate me," Akbar wrote more than a month before.
"I am not going to do anything about it as long as I stay here. But as soon as I am in Iraq, I am going to try and kill as many of them as possible," he wrote.
According to testimony in the court-martial, Akbar was asked at least twice by officers if he had problems with going into Iraq because he is Muslim and Akbar said he didn't.
The father also said Akbar graduated first in his class from a Los Angeles high school with a dropout rate of 85 percent.
"My concern is how did an upstanding citizen like my son, my pride and joy, get to into this situation?" John Akbar said. "He has absolutely no previous encounters with the law and does not use alcohol or drugs. He has always been a role model for his younger brothers and sisters."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=688966