Briton facing Baghdad murder charges ‘has post-traumatic stress’

Danny Fitzsimons was escorted by police into a Baghdad courtroom yesterday.

He is the first Westerner to be tried by an Iraqi court since the start of the war nearly eight years ago and faces the death penalty if convicted.

He is charged with the murder of a British and Australian contractor with whom he worked and with attempting to kill an Iraqi guard. Fitzsimons, 30, admits to shooting the men in 2009 but claims it was self-defence.

Fitzsimons’s father and brother attended yesterday’s session in a Baghdad court and said they had been able to meet him the day before for the first time since he was arrested.

“We spent about five hours talking about old times because we missed him for a few years,” said his father, Eric, while sitting with his younger son, Michael, outside the courtroom.

Fitzsimons’s father, a 62-year old school teacher from Manchester, said his son was “in good shape” and “talking properly” but his mental state “is not good”.

“He does have problems ... he’s an ill boy,” he said. “I hope he comes back home.”

If Fitzsimons is not given the death penalty, the family and British authorities are trying to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government to have him transferred to a British prison after the verdict, said Fitzsimons’s British lawyer, John Tripple.

“At the moment he’s being treated properly, but we are concerned,” Mr Tripple said.

“We hope that the verdict will be positive for Danny to be able to return to the UK for his medical treatment ... he needs that treatment.”

The judges are expected to issue a verdict on February 28.