AMMAN, Jordan, June 1 (UPI) -- Jordan's State Security Court Sunday convicted a Japanese journalist of "unintentional manslaughter" for carrying a leftover cluster bomb from the Iraq war that led to the death of an airport security guard last month.
The court initially sentenced Hiroki Gomi to a three-year prison term, but commuted it to 18 months because the guard's family dropped their charges and because the journalist "is a foreigner."
The three-man tribunal, made up of two military judges and a civilian, acquitted Gomi, 36, of possession of a bomb "without his knowledge that it was active."
Officials privately expected the king to pardon the journalist, noting that Japan is one of Jordan's major financial donors.
Presiding Judge Col. Fawaz Buqour said during the one-hour session that the higher sentence would be applied.
The court convicted him of the third charge of "causing harm and damage."
The journalist's lawyers said they would appeal the verdict in a higher civilian court.
The tribunal also acquitted Gomi's Jordanian translator, Abdul Salam Helwa, of possessing explosives and ordered his immediate release from custody.
Prosecutor Col. Mohannad Hijazi later described the verdict as "fair," although he had called on the court to hand them the maximum penalty.
The maximum penalty for possession of illegal explosives is 15 years at hard labor and five years for manslaughter.
Gomi and Helwa, wearing blue shirts, sat silently listening to the judge recite the lengthy verdict as an interpreter translated the ruling in English in the overcrowded courtroom, which included many Japanese journalists.
Gomi, a photojournalist for the Japanese Mainichi Shimbun, and Helwa pleaded innocent to the charges, saying they had picked up the devices in Iraq as "souvenirs."
They said they believed the devices would not explode, as they had kept them, "and even played with them," for more than two weeks before one of them exploded on May 1.
Gomi was carrying the apparent cluster bomblet in his suitcase to take back home with him. Upon inspecting it, the device exploded, killing airport security guard Sgt. Ali Sarhan, and injuring three others.
The authorities also retrieved a similar bomb from Helwa's house and detonated it.
The court described Gomi as "careless" for carrying the explosive device "and endangering the lives of security officers, airport workers and passengers."
The presiding judge also blasted the journalist for having "messed with the device and pulled the safety key to try to prove to the deceased that it was safe. That led to the explosion and the death of Sarhan."
Col. Buqour added that the court realized that Gomi, "though he has been a journalist for 12 years and covered several wars," had no ill-intent or knowledge that it could lead to a deadly explosion, thus the lighter sentence.
Senior executives of Shimbun have visited Jordan and repeatedly apologized to Sarhan's family, the Jordanian government and King Abdullah for the incident.
