2003 Camp Pennsylvania attack
American court-martial case
In the early morning hours of March 23, 2003, at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, during the start of the United States invasion of Iraq, Sergeant Hasan Karim Akbar (born Mark Fidel Kools on April 21, 1971) threw four hand grenades into three tents in which other members of the 101st Airborne Division were sleeping, and fired his rifle at fellow soldiers in the ensuing chaos. Army Captain Christopher S. Seifert was fatally shot in the back, and Air Force Major Gregory L. Stone was killed by a grenade. Fourteen other soldiers were wounded by Akbar, mostly from grenade shrapnel.
In the United States v. Hasan K. Akbar trial, Akbar's military defense attorneys contended that Akbar had psychiatric problems, including paranoia, irrational behavior, insomnia, and other sleep disorders. In April 2005, he was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Seifert and Stone. The Army Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the sentence on July 13, 2012, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed the decision on August 19, 2015.
Akbar was the first soldier since the Vietnam War to be convicted for "fragging" fellow soldiers overseas during wartime. He continues to be confined at the United States Disciplinary Barracks awaiting execution.
Background
Akbar was born Mark Fidel Kools on April 21, 1971, and grew up in Watts, Los Angeles, California.
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