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A US Marine soldier has been sentenced by a Japanese court to seven years in prison over an alleged sexual assault committed in May 2024, according to local media reports.

A local district court in Okinawa Prefecture announced the verdict on Tuesday for Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton, 22, who pleaded not guilty in the case.

He was accused of injuring a woman in her 20s by choking her while attempting to rape her, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Clayton denied having any sexual intent or using physical force against her.

However, the judge described the victim's account as "precise and authentic," while noting that she reported the incident to both the police and a friend shortly afterward.

In December last year, a member of the US Air Force based in Japan was also sentenced to five years in prison over an allegation of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a girl under 16 in 2023.

Okinawa hosts 31 US-exclusive military facilities, accounting for 70.3% of such sites in Japan in terms of land area. The island is home to roughly half of the 50,000 US troops deployed in the country under a security pact.

There have been numerous sexual assault cases involving US servicemembers in Japan, prompting public outrage and renewed calls for stricter oversight.

Hundreds of residents held demonstrations in Okinawa last year to demand an apology from the US military after a servicemember was implicated in a sexual assault case.

There were 118 criminal cases involving US military personnel in Japan in 2023, according to official figures. Seventy-two of those cases, accounting for 61%, reportedly occurred in Okinawa.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid