[JURIST] The investigating officer for the Multi-National Force-Iraq Wednesday granted a postponement of the Article 32 hearing [press release] for civilian contractor Alaa "Alex" Mohammad Ali. Ali, who holds dual Iraqi-Canadian citizenship, is charged [JURIST report] with aggravated assault for stabbing another contractor in February, and is the first civilian contractor charged by the military since it was granted jurisdiction over civilians accompanying US troops in a combat zone by a 2006 amendment to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) [text]. A new date for the hearing has not yet been set. AP has more.

Prior to the 2006 UCMJ amendment, contractors working in Iraq were exempted [PDF text] from prosecution in that country. The amendment, found in Section 522 of the 2007 defense authorization bill [2 2766 materials; LawReader backgrounder], significantly changed the military's jurisdiction to bring civilian contractors within the military's jurisdiction during a "contingency operation" rather than its previous requirement that Congress actually declare war. Last fall, Congress took further steps [JURIST report] to bring US contractors within the jurisdiction of the military with the 2008 defense authorization bill [HR 1585 materials]. The issue of criminal jurisdiction over US military contractors working in Iraq gained notoriety last fall when several Blackwater USA [corporate website; JURIST news archive] employees allegedly killed at least eight Iraqi civilians [JURIST report]. The US Department of Justice has run into legal hurdles [JURIST report] trying to bring criminal charges against the Blackwater employees.