MESOP NEWS – WAR CRIMINAL ASYLANTS IN GERMANY – Former Iraqi Soldier Prosecuted in Germany for War Crimes

Mira Rojkan – 23 February 2017 – BASNEWS – LEEDS — A German court in Berlin started the hearing of a case against a former Iraqi soldier who was charged with war crimes after allegedly taking pictures with and of human heads belonging to two Islamic State (IS) militants.

The former soldier who is believed to be 28 years old was identified by the court as Rami K., according to Agence France-Presse. He was photographed back in March 2015 holding the human heads by the hair on them. The pictures were taken near the city of Tikrit, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Baghdad.  When the photographs were taken the man was a soldier in the Iraqi army, however since then he has reportedly fled to Germany seeking refuge along thousands of other displaced people. He was arrested in August 2016 and placed under provisional detention on charges of committing war crimes including “humiliating the dead,” the prosecutors said. However, the former soldier said that in regards to the crimes committed by him, he was simply following orders and he was not able to refuse as it would have caused him to lose the respect of the unit he was in. www.mesop.de