(Washington, DC, December 23, 2020) – President Donald Trump on December 22, 2020, pardoned four Blackwater contractors convicted of murder and voluntary manslaughter of 14 Iraqi civilians including 10 men, 2 women, and 2 boys, and injuring 17 others. A federal court in 2014 found that on September 16, 2007, Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard drove a convoy into Baghdad’s Nisour Square and opened fire unprovoked.
The following quote may be attributed to Sarah Holewinski, Washington director at Human Rights Watch:
"President Trump’s pardons of four Blackwater contractors convicted of killing 14 Iraqi civilians show contempt for the rule of law. The victims’ families finally saw some measure of justice when these men were convicted in 2014 and sentenced to prison. Now justice has been undone by the stroke of a pen.”