Danny Fitzsimons had feared hanging A British security guard has been sentenced to 20 years in jail after being convicted by an Iraqi court of murdering two colleagues.
Danny Fitzsimons, 30, from Rochdale, admitted killing Paul McGuigan, from The Scottish Borders, and Darren Hoare, of Australia, in August 2009.
Under Iraqi law a life sentence equates to a 20-year jail term.
Fitzsimons is the first Westerner to be convicted in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.
He was also convicted of attempting to kill an Iraqi guard.
The former paratrooper, who feared being hanged, said he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress at the time of the killings.
A 2009 US-Iraqi security agreement lifted immunity from prosecution for foreigners.
“This is a very good sentence. I saved him from the gallows”
Lawyer, Tariq Harb
Fitzsimons, from Middleton, has said he shot the men in self-defence after an altercation broke out.
Fitzsimons, Mr McGuigan and Mr Hoare had all been working for British security firm ArmorGroup, based in the Iraqi capital’s fortified Green Zone, at the time of the shooting.
As Fitzsimons was led away to jail by Iraqi guards he said he was happy with the sentence, but when asked whether he thought the trial was fair he replied “no”, AP reported.
The judge, who cannot be named under Iraqi law, said Fitzsimons’ mental condition had been taken into consideration when deciding on the sentence, AP said.
“Danny Fitzsimons, the court has found established evidence that you killed the two slain men and attempted to kill the third,” the judge said.
“So the court issues its sentence according to the Iraqi criminal code and sentences you to 20 years in prison.”
Fitzsimons’ Iraqi lawyer Tariq Harb said after the hearing: “This is a very good sentence. I saved him from the gallows.”
Mr Harb said Fitzsimons would appeal within a 30-day deadline.
He added that transferring Fitzsimons to a British jail could be possible since the “relations between the two countries are strong now and diplomacy can bear remarkable influence”, AP reported.
In a BBC interview before his sentence, Fitzsimons described his greatest fears.
He said: “Obviously hanging, nobody wants to hang, and possibly life imprisonment in one of the worst jails in the world.”
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