Request for gag order in Iraqi rape case
Defence attorneys requested a gag order today that applies even to US President George Bush and other high-ranking federal officials in the case of a former Army private accused over the rape and killing of a young Iraqi.
Attorneys for Steven Green claimthat “strong and inflammatory opinion is rampant” in the case.
The requested gag order would apply to trial participants, attorneys, civilian or military law enforcement officers and investigators.
Defence attorneys have asked that it include Bush as well as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld along with their subordinates.
Investigators have said that Green and other soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based 101st Airborne Division plotted to rape a young Iraqi woman they first saw at a traffic checkpoint in the village of Mahmoudiya.
Green is accused of rounding up three family members in a room of the young woman’s house and shooting them before raping and killing her.
In a separate motion, defence lawyers have asked that authorities “properly maintain and preserve” all potential evidence in the case.
