KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Kabul court announced Wednesday
that the Afghan police officer charged with killing Associated Press
photographer Anja Niedringhaus and wounding veteran AP correspondent
Kathy Gannon has been convicted and sentenced to death.
It was the
first court hearing in the case and, under Afghan law, the verdict and
sentence are subject to several stages of review.
Six judges at
the Kabul District Court found former Afghan police unit commander
Naqibullah guilty of murder and treason over the attack in the
southeastern city of Khost that targeted the international journalists
as they prepared to cover the first round of the country’s presidential
election. The judges also sentenced Naqibullah, who goes by one name
like many other Afghans, to four years in prison for shooting and
wounding Gannon in the attack.
The judges ruled Tuesday during a two-hour hearing that followed a three-month police investigation.
Naqibullah,
represented by a defense lawyer provided to him by a legal association,
argued with the judges before his sentencing, saying at one point that
he was "not a normal person." However, judges dismissed his claim after
he provided his name, age and the correct date. Naqibullah also denied
judges’ claims that he once traveled to Pakistan to be trained by
extremists, saying he only received medical care while there.
Afghanistan’s
president must sign off on any execution order. Naqibullah also may
appeal within 15 days to a second court and then ultimately to the
country’s Supreme Court.
Gannon and Niedringhaus traveled to Khost
under the protection of Afghan forces and were at a district police
headquarters in a village outside the city on April 4 when witnesses say
Naqibullah walked up to their hired car, yelled "Allahu Akbar" — God is
Great — and fired on them in the back seat with a Kalashnikov assault
rifle. He surrendered immediately after the attack.
Witness and
official accounts have suggested the shooting was not planned. While in
court Tuesday, Naqibullah did not offer a reason why he opened fire.
Niedringhaus,
a 48-year-old award-winning photographer who had covered conflict zones
from the Balkans in the 1990s to Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, died
instantly of her wounds. Gannon, a 61-year-old senior correspondent for
Afghanistan and Pakistan, suffered three gunshot wounds in the attack.
She is still recovering from her injuries.
The two had worked
together repeatedly in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion,
covering the conflict from some of the most dangerous hotspots of the
Taliban insurgency while focusing on the effect war had on civilians.