BAGHDAD - A Canadian civilian contractor charged with aggravated assault while working for the U.S. military will remain in confinement until defence officials determine whether his case will go to trial.
A U.S. military statement says a pretrial hearing to consider the charges against Alaa (Alex) Mohammad Ali, who holds dual Iraqi-Canadian citizenship, concluded Tuesday.
Recommendations stemming from the pretrial hearing will be forwarded to Lt.-Gen. Lloyd Austin, commanding officer of the Multinational Corps, who will decide whether to order a trial.
Ali is the first civilian to face criminal charges since Congress in 2006 gave the military authority to prosecute crimes committed by civilians working for the armed forces.
His cases is also the first instance of a civilian being prosecuted under U.S. military law since the Vietnam War.
Ali, a U.S. army translator, is accused of stabbing another contractor four times in the chest during a fight on at a base near Hit, 140 kilometres west of Baghdad in Anbar province. He has been in detention since Feb. 29 at a stockade near Baghdad International Airport.
In 2006, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham added a measure to a U.S. defence spending bill that made civilians working for the military in a "contingency operation'' subject to courts-martial.
The provision was intended to close the legal loophole that made it difficult to successfully prosecute such individuals in conflicts were Congress had not formally declared a state of war.
During the war in Vietnam, several civilians working for the U.S. armed forces were charged with violations of military law.
Although there were several convictions these were eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has overturned all civilian convictions under military law in the last half century.
