Afghanistan: Australian on death row will offer compensation

A lawyer for an Australian man sentenced to death for murder in Afghanistan says his client's family will try to have the judgment overturned by paying compensation to the victim's family.

Robert Langdon's predicament began when he shot dead an Afghan colleague while reportedly working as a contractor for US-based security firm Four Horsemen International.

Langdon (left), a 38-year-old former soldier in the Australian Army, claimed he shot the man in self-defence, but an Afghan court found him guilty of murder in October last year and sentenced him to death by hanging.

The South Australian man's lawyer, Stephen Kenny, says under Islamic law the family is able to make a payment of tens of thousands of dollars to a local court.

"My hope is that it will result in the death penalty coming off the table and in an ideal situation ... we may be able to seek his release back to Australia," Mr Kenny said.

He understands the payment will be offered to a local court this week, before a Supreme Court appeal is due to be heard.

"In the ibra court my understanding is it is about the compensation, about the forgiveness of the family, which is a serious feature of Islamic law," he said.

Langdon's sister Katie Godfrey says her brother's health is suffering in prison.

"He has lost over 20 kilo, for him to lose 20 kilo when he's already lean, I just dread to think what he looks like now," she said.

Tens of thousands of security contractors work in Afghanistan and their numbers are increasing.

Analysts say the presence of this private army is a source of tension between Afghanistan's government and its Western allies.

In recent years the Afghan government has allowed foreign security contractors accused of crimes to be dealt with in their home country.

Source: ABC News, May 17, 2010

Lawyer flies out to Afghanistan to represent death-row prisoner Robert Langdon, who family says is 'not doing well'

Adelaide solicitor Stephen Kenny will fly to Afghanistan today to represent death-row prisoner Robert Langdon, who is struggling to cope in the harsh conditions.

Mr Kenny, David Hicks' former solicitor, said he had been engaged by Mr Langdon's Port Augusta-based family to aid the former security contractor's lawyers in Kabul.

Mr Langdon, 38, has been convicted of murdering a fellow security contractor, an Afghani.

"He's always maintained it was self defence ... we want to make sure that even in Afghanistan he gets what would be considered a fair go," Mr Kenny told AdelaideNow.

Mr Kenny said Mr Langdon was acting as head of security on a convoy that had recently been attacked by the Taliban. He was concerned when his fellow security contractor wanted to keep the convoy stationery in an isolated area.

It is alleged that the contractor drew his gun on Mr Langdon, who shot the contractor in self defence.

Mr Langdon was sentenced to death on October 27 last year in a hearing which Mr Kelly said had no witnesses, no discussion of evidence and no statements.

The hearing lasted less than 2 minutes.

Mr Kenny said he was now hoping the "Ibra hearing", in which Mr Langdon's family pays the victim's family a "significant" amount of money and seeks forgiveness will help Mr Langdon's plight.

"We're hoping that through this Ibra court and the subsequent court cases that we can negotiate an arrangement where at least the death penalty is removed and hopefully to have him ultimately released," he said.

"Islamic law is much more generous than western law because in western law the family doesn't always get the chance of obtaining some compensation and the family of the offender doesn't get a right to seek forgiveness in this manner."

Mr Langdon, 38, grew up on Billa Kalina Station in the SA outback.

He served in the Army and the Army Reserve and has worked as a security contractor in Afghanistan since 2004.

Mr Langdon's sister, Katie Godfrey, said her brother is not doing well.

"The whole family is very concerned about Rob's welfare. He has lost 20kg while he has been in jail," Mrs Godfrey said.

Mr Kenny said prisoners rely on family and friends to feed them.

"It's very clear to us that jail is not a good place in Afghanistan but again that is a reflection on the fact it's an extremely poor country, it's extremely dangerous and jail is not seen as a priority.

"He does have some friends over there who have been working diligently to try and look after his welfare but they do find the bureaucracy difficult."

Mr Kenny will meet with Mr Langdon and his lawyers and interview potential witnesses before returning to Sydney next Monday.

Source: Adelaide Now, May 17, 2010