SAN DIEGO — Last week, the U.S. chief of naval operations denied a request for clemency and upheld a military jury's sentence that will reduce the rank of a decorated Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who was convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq in 2017.
On Monday, the Navy Times reported that the president of the United States restored Gallagher's rank to Chief Petty Officer.
A military jury acquitted Gallagher this summer of murder for the death of the wounded captive, attempted murder in the shootings of unarmed Iraqi civilians and other charges during his deployment to Mosul, Iraq.
He was convicted of the single count of posing with the casualty — dealing a major blow to one of the Navy's most high-profile war crimes cases.
The case was championed by President Donald Trump, who had intervened to move Gallagher out of the brig and congratulated him in a tweet after he was acquitted of murder.
