ANTI-WAR activists were outraged today after a US Navy Seal was acquitted of murdering an Iraqi teenager after a two-week war crimes trial in San Diego.

The court cleared Edward Gallagher of premeditated murder. He was accused of stabbing a 17-year-old Iraqi boy repeatedly in the neck while he lay injured on the ground.

Mr Gallagher’s defence argued that colleagues had attempted to frame the special operations chief in a bid to oust their boss and cited a lack of concrete evidence.

But prosecutors said that messages sent via WhatsApp, including a photograph of him holding up the dead child’s head by the hair with a knife in his hand, incriminated Mr Gallagher.

The platoon leader also sent a text message that reads: “Got him with my hunting knife.”

In a dramatic turnaround last week Special Operator First Class Corey Scott, a Navy Seals medic, claimed that he killed the child.

The witness for the prosecution claimed that he blocked the youth’s airway tube and choked him to death as an “act of mercy” after he claimed to have verified that the boy was going to die.

The medic was offered immunity from prosecution for his testimony but Navy prosecutors may now seek to prosecute the witness for perjury.

A panel of five marines and two sailors heard the case. Under the US military system five of the seven jurors must agree in order to produce a conviction.

Most of the jurors had themselves fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Gallagher was also cleared of the attempted murder of two unarmed civilians — a schoolgirl and an elderly man — who were shot from a sniper’s position. He was also acquitted of firing deliberately on other non-combatants and of obstruction of justice.

He was found guilty of posing for a photograph with a dead body which carries a maximum four-month prison sentence. But he was able to walk free as he had already served the time in custody.

Mr Gallagher’s lawyer told journalists outside the court that his client was “not guilty of murder, not guilty of stabbing, not guilty of shooting, not guilty of all those things. They found him guilty of taking a photograph.”

The high-profile case has proved controversial as the soldier received support from US President Donald Trump before, during and after his trial.

Mr Trump had indicated that he was preparing to pardon Mr Gallagher if he was convicted of murder.

After the verdict was delivered Mr Trump tweeted: “Congratulations to Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, his wonderful wife Andrea, and his entire family. You have been through much together. Glad I could help!”

News website Inkl tweeted: “This isn’t a miscarriage of justice. This is American justice: bullets for civilians, exoneration for the state-sanctioned murderers.”