Robert Langdon likely to be saved from gallows in Afghanistan

Former South Australian army soldier Robert Langdon is likely to be saved from execution in Afghanistan because of a deal involving a significant compensation payment.

Returning from Kabul, his Australian lawyer, Stephen Kenny believed the convicted murderer's life would be spared but refused to reveal the amount of "Ibra", which is compensation paid under Islamic law.

"The information I have from the local lawyers is that they think it's unlikely the death penalty will be imposed now that the Ibra has been finalised," Mr Kenny said.

"It's a significant amount - and certainly in Afghanistan it's a very significant amount of money."

Mr Kenny, who acted for former terror suspect David Hicks, also revealed that Langdon's life was under threat in the cramped confines of the notorious Policharki prison.

"He's in a room with 22 other people, there are members of the Taliban in the same prison. His life has been threatened by them," Mr Kenny said.

In a statement last month, Mr Langdon's Port Augusta-based sister Katie Godfrey said she was worried about her brother's deteriorating health after he lost 20kg.

"He's broken 2 teeth trying to eat the bread that the prison supplies," Mr Kenny said. Mr Langdon grew up on Billa Kalina Station, 170km southeast of Coober Pedy and served as a corporal with the 1st Battalion in East Timor in 2000.

Langdon was sentenced to death for killing an Afghan security guard, whom he shot four times in the head and body in May 2009.

At the time, Langdon was employed by the US-based contractor Four Horsemen International, as a security contractor.

Langdon told a courtroom in Kabul he fired on a colleague known as Karim in self-defence during a heated argument about security for a convoy just south of Kabul.

Langdon claimed the man was reaching for his pistol.

Mr Kenny said he had also discovered that there were 2 American witnesses who had not been interviewed at the time of the killing.

He said their statements would be used in a final hearing to help determine Mr Langdon's sentence.

Source: Adelaide Now, June 1, 2010