President Donald Trump granted a pardon Monday to a former Army first lieutenant who was convicted in 2009 of killing an Iraqi prisoner.
The president signed an executive grant of clemency for Michael Behenna, an Oklahoma man who was sentenced to 15 years for killing Ali Mansur Mohamed, a suspected al Qaeda operative who was stripped naked for questioning before being shot.
Behenna had long argued he acted in self-defense. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter petitioned the White House for the pardon.
“Mr. Behenna’s case has attracted broad support from the military, Oklahoma elected officials, and the public,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “While serving his sentence, Mr. Behenna was a model prisoner.”
Behenna was paroled in 2014 after serving less than five years of his sentence.
Mansur was questioned in connection with a roadside bomb that killed two soldiers.
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