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Retired Irish soldier Paul Clarke commands other retired Irish soldiers during a march to the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland for a silent vigil on Saturday, July 5, 2014. The vigil was attended by hundreds of former Irish soldiers and others to call for justice for the deaths of Privates Thomas Barrett and Derek Smallhorne, who were tortured and murdered during a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in 1980. On April 18 of that year, Barrett, Smallhorne, O’Mahony and others were on a mission in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel when they were abducted by a Christian militia group. Other non-Irish personnel in the convoy were released, but the three Irish soldiers were separated. O’Mahony was shot, but managed to escape. Smallhorne and Barrett were tortured and killed. O’Mahony and a former Associated Press correspondent who was there that day identify one of their abductors as Mahmoud Bazzi, who later entered the U.S. illegally and has been living in Dearborn, Mich. Bazzi was arrested on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 and is being held on an immigration violation. Families of the slain Irish soldiers and others in Ireland are calling for Bazzi to be deported and tried for war crimes. Bazzi denies all involvement.
Brian Kaufman/Detroit Free Press