Little Rock - A Muslim convert charged in the shooting death of an American soldier told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he didn't consider the killing a murder because U.S. military action in the Middle East made the killing justified.

Abdulhakim Muhammad of Little Rock said he confessed to police that he killed Pvt. William Long outside an Army-Navy recruiting center but told AP that murder exists only "without a justified reason."

In a collect call from jail, the 23-year-old also disputed his lawyer's claim that he had been "radicalized" in a Yemeni prison, and also said he didn't specifically plan the June 1st shootings but that they came about after being on his mind for awhile.

Muhammad said he wanted revenge for claims that American military personnel had desecrated copies of the Quran and killed or raped Muslims in Iraq (web | news) and Afghanistan.

He said the U.S. military would never treat Christians and their scriptures in the same manner.

Muhammad's lawyer, Jim Hensley, said that any information spread by any of the parties since Monday morning would violate the gag order and declined to say whether he would advise his client to remain silent pending a trial.

Prosecutor Larry Jegley declined to comment, citing the gag order.


(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 Email To Friend