Reuters reports:
"Alaa Mohammad Ali, who holds Iraqi and Canadian citizenship, has been charged with aggravated assault, accused of stabbing another interpreter while working for U.S. forces at a combat outpost in the western Iraqi town of Hit."
"His pre-trial hearing took place in a courtroom at a U.S. base in Baghdad with witnesses who were unable to be present testifying by video link, the military said in a statement.
"Ali is the first contractor charged under an amendment passed by Congress in 2006 which authorizes military trials for contractors accompanying U.S. troops. He has been held by U.S. military authorities since February.
"The U.S. military says he will be given the same rights as a U.S. service member facing military court.
"The legal status of contractors in Iraq has been the subject of substantial controversy, especially since last September when contractors from the U.S. firm Blackwater were accused of wrongly killing 17 people in a shooting in Baghdad."
There is a technical difference here: the 2006 amendment authorized trials for contractors accompanying U.S. troops, but Blackwater accompanied State Department officials.
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