Australian faces execution over Afghan murder

An Australian security contractor was sentenced to death in Afghanistan for fatally shooting an Afghan colleague, Australia’s government said today.

The contractor reportedly tried to blame the murder on the Taliban.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his government was working hard to prevent the former Australian soldier from being executed, but conceded it may not succeed.

Australia has around 1,500 active troops in Afghanistan battling Taliban insurgents and training Afghan security forces, and the death penalty case could raise tensions between the two countries.

The Australian newspaper reported that Robert William Langdon, 38, killed an Afghan guard identified only as Karim last May during a heated argument about security for a convoy just south of the capital, Kabul.

It said Langdon was working for Four Horsemen International, a US-based private security and logistics company operating mostly in Afghanistan that employs former American and other troops.

Langdon was leading an international contingent guarding the convoy while Karim led an Afghan team, the newspaper said.

The convoy was ambushed by suspected Taliban in Wardak province south of Kabul but escaped to the provincial capital, where the two men argued about whether to continue.

Langdon told an appeal court in Kabul recently he shot Karim in self defence as the Afghan reached for his pistol, though other witnesses disputed this account, the newspaper said.

The court also heard that Langdon threw a hand grenade into the truck carrying Karim’s body and ordered other guards to fire into the air to simulate a Taliban attack, it said.

Australia does not have the death penalty and lobbies hard for any of its citizens sentenced to death in other countries to be spared.

A handful of Australians have been executed overseas in recent years, mostly for drug trafficking crimes – most recently Van Tong Nguyen, who was hanged in Singapore in 2005 despite top-level appeals from the government. He had been convicted of importing heroin.

Mr Rudd said today that Australian officials were lobbying the Afghan government for clemency for Langdon, but played down the chances of success.

“I don’t think it would be wise to predict or project the effectiveness of any particular intervention by me,” Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio.

Officials said they did not want to say more about Langdon in case it jeopardised the chances of reducing the sentence, or hurt his plans to appeal to Afghanistan’s supreme court.

Langdon was originally convicted in October, but the case only came to light publicly today after an appeals court upheld the ruling last week.

Afghan officials did not immediately comment on the case today.