Iraqis were bitterly disappointed on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump pardoned four Blackwater security guards given lengthy sentences for killing 14 civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
Hassan Jabir, a survivor of the 2007 Nisour Square massacre in the country's capital, relived the horror of the moment he was shot.
"Blackwater contractors are criminals, they killed innocent people and maimed others," Mr Jabir told The National.
The 2007 shooting included children among the dead and sparked outrage in Iraq over the use of private security guards in war zones.
Mr Jabir, who suffered severe injuries to his back, hands and abdomen, said Mr Trump’s decision is a breach of international law and human rights.
“It is a shock and big disappointment.”
He was driving through Al Nisour Square on the way to work when the shooting started.
“All of a sudden I was hit by a barrage of bullets,” he said. “I underwent numerous surgeries, and now have diabetes and functional deficits in some parts of the body.”
Mr Jabir believes the US president wants to "pave the way for the company to return to Iraq”.
Later on Wednesday, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry decried the decision, saying "it didn't take into consideration the seriousness of the crime committed and it does not correspond with the US Administration's declared commitment regarding the values of human rights."
The decision "regrettably ignores the dignity of the victims and the feelings and rights of their families," it said, adding that it will follow up with the US Administration "through diplomatic channels to urge it to reconsider the decision."
Bara Saadoun Ismaiel, a businessman in the field of medical equipment, said he was disturbed and left speechless by the decision, but believes the victims can still get justice.
"This is proof that democracy and advocating for human rights in the US is just a big lie," he told The National.
Both men said they are exploring options to reopen the case in US courts.
The massacre caused international uproar over the use of private contractors in conflict zones.
The four guards, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten used machine guns and grenade launchers to fire on a crowd of unarmed people in Baghdad.
“The pardon of convicted Blackwater murderers of innocent Iraqi civilians sends a terrible message to the Iraqi people and demoralises the Iraqi leaders,” said Abbas Kadhim, the Atlantic Council’s Iraq Initiative director.
Iraqi officials are already “arguing a weak case of keeping US military presence in the country”, Mr Kadhim said.
Ali Al Bayati, a member of the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, said the foreign ministry in Baghdad must hold an emergency meeting with the UN Security Council to refer the case to the International Criminal Court.
“This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law that requires conflict zones to protect civilians and for states to hold individuals to account who violate these regulations,” Mr Al Bayati said.
“There is a lack of seriousness in holding these men to account,” he said.
Three of the men, Slough, Heard and Liberty, were found guilty of 13 charges of voluntary manslaughter in 2014 and 17 charges of attempted manslaughter. They each got 30 years.
Slatten, the team’s sniper and the first to open fire, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Many described the move as renewing the crime committed against the Iraqi people.
"Iraqi lives matter. We matter. We are human beings. People in Iraq deserve justice, accountability, closure and healing," said Ruba Al Hassani, an Iraqi sociologist.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
Brief scores:
QPR 0
Watford 1
Capoue 45' 1
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
More on Quran memorisation:
More coverage from the Future Forum
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Vaccine Progress in the Middle East
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Golden Shoe top five (as of March 1):
Harry Kane, Tottenham, Premier League, 24 goals, 48 points
Edinson Cavani, PSG, Ligue 1, 24 goals, 48 points
Ciro Immobile, Lazio, Serie A, 23 goals, 46 points
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Premier League, 23 goals, 46 points
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, La Liga, 22 goals, 44 points
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETelr%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202014%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E65%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20and%20payments%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enearly%20%2430%20million%20so%20far%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
