BAGHDAD, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A British private security contractor will spend 20 years in prison after an Iraqi court found him guilty Monday of murdering two co-workers, his attorney said.
Former paratrooper Danny Fitzsimons, the first Westerner tried in Iraq since prosecution immunity for security workers was lifted in 2009, said he was pleased with the sentence, Sky News reported. He could have received the death penalty.
Fitzsimons was actually sentenced to life, but under Iraqi law a life sentence is a 20-year term, his Iraqi lawyer, Tariq Harb, told Xinhua.
Asked if he thought he received a fair trial, Fitzsimons said, "No." His attorney said they would appeal.
Fitzsimons was convicted of killing Paul McGuigan of Britain and Darren Hoare of Australia after drinking. He admitting shooting the men, but said he was acting in self-defense. He said McGuigan and Hoare pointed a rifle to his face. The shooting occurred 36 hours after he arrived in Baghdad.
Fitzsimons said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Kosovo and Iraq, Sky News reported. Three psychiatric assessments agreed.
The chief judge of a three-judge panel said Fitzsimons' mental state was considered in determining the sentence.
"This is a very good decision, and very good result -- he has been saved from death," Fitzsimons' lawyer said. "But we have to send the appeal within days and we hope to get a further reduction," he said.
Fitzsimons' stepmother told the BBC his tours of duty in Kosovo and Iraq as a member of the British military formed the basis for the mental health problems that culminated in the two deaths in Baghdad in August 2009.
At first, family members attributed Fitzsimons' volatile behavior to "Danny being difficult," she said. "We now know it was Danny with post-traumatic stress disorder."
