Iraq - Inglese

Funeral protest costs church $11m

[Times - World]

<b>BALTIMORE</b> A grieving father won nearly $11 million ($£5 million) in damages against a fundamentalist church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. Albert Snyder sued the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after its members demonstrated at the funeral in March 2006 of his son, Marine Lance-Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. The federal jury awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages, $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress. (AP)$