Muslim soldier 'unlawfully killed'
Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi was killed in July last year
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Thursday, 11, Oct 2007 08:02
The death of Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, the first British Muslim soldier killed in Afghanistan, has been deemed an unlawful killing.
The 24-year-old soldier, from Bordesley Green in Birmingham, died along with his colleague Corporal Peter Thorpe, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, when a rocket struck their compound in Sangin, Helmand province on July 1st 2006.
Oxford coroners court heard that the two men, both serving with the intelligence corps, were supposed to be wearing body armour yet neither were properly prepared when the building was hit and shrapnel showered the soldiers inside the building.
Both men were under direct orders to wear the equipment although they had both elected not to do so at the time when they came under attack by Taliban troops.
Andrew Walker, the assistant deputy coroner for Oxfordshire who was in charge of the case, said the death of Cpl Thorpe "could have been avoided" if he had been wearing the armour with which he was supplied.
However the ruling stated that the injuries caused to L Cpl Hashmi would been fatal, with or without the armour.
Forensic pathologist Dr Nicholas Hunt said L Cpl Hashmi died as a result of a shrapnel wound to his neck – which would not have been protected by the armour. Cpl Thorpe was killed by a projectile wound to his chest.
Mr Walker said the episode highlighted "failings in the chain of command", although he ruled the incident was "little short of murder".
Major William Pike, who was in charge of the fighting force of which Cpl Thorpe and L Cpl Hashmi were a part of, said there should be some element of individual responsibility attached to the men's actions although he admitted some failings had contributed.