Baghdad: Iraqi witnesses have begun testifying at a US military court to decide if four US soldiers should be court-martialled for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl.
Three of the girl's relatives were also killed in the town of Mahmoudiya on March 12.
The hearing, expected to last up to four days, began on Sunday with unidentified Iraqi witnesses kept behind closed doors. The media and public and were asked to leave as the witnesses testified.
Military prosecutors are expected to lay out their case against Private First Class Jesse Spielman, Specialist James Barker, Sergeant Paul Cortez and Private First Class Bryan Howard.
If court-martialled and found guilty the men could face the death penalty.
Former private Steven Green faces the same charges in a US federal court in Kentucky. Green, who has pleaded not guilty, was discharged from the army for a “personality disorder''.
According to prosecutors, Green shot dead 14-year-old Abeer Qasim Hamza Al Janabi's father, mother and six-year-old sister before raping the teenager and killing her.
He then tried to burn the bodies and house to conceal evidence of the crime. Recent reports suggest that at least three soldiers tried to rape the girl.
A fifth soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe will appear at the hearing at Camp Victory near Baghdad Airport under charges of dereliction of duty and making a false statement
The case has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution.
Maliki is frustrated with the mounting number of cases against Americans, with the Mahmoudiya case the fifth in a series of high-profile investigations into killings of Iraqis by US soldiers.
