Nagem Sadoon Hatab, an Iraqi POW, died of strangulation last year at a holding facility near Nasiriyah, the first death of an Iraqi prisoner to be acknowledged by the U.S. military. Gary Pittman, a reserve sergeant from New York, is one of three men charged in the June 2003 death. He could receive more than three years in a military prison if found guilty on two charges of dereliction of duty and four counts of assault. The accused U.S. Marines and their lawyers say Hatab died of natural causes, perhaps an asthma attack. Pittman's military trial was to begin Monday, with more than 40 witnesses scheduled to testify at his court-martial, expected to last about three weeks.
