Jury awards $42 million to 3 Iraqis tortured in Abu Ghraib prison 20 years ago, holding US military contractor responsible
Jury awards $42 million to 3 Iraqis tortured in Abu Ghraib prison 20 years ago, holding US military contractor responsible
Last Tuesday, a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, awarded $42 million in damages against US military contractor CACI Premier Technology, Inc., for its role in the torture of three Iraqis in Abu Ghraib prison during the US imperialist occupation.
[Photo: US Government] A hooded detainee imprisoned at Abu Ghraib. He is standing on a box with wires attached to his left and right hand; he was told that he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box.
On November 12, a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, returned a unanimous verdict for Abu Ghraib torture victims Salah Al-Ejaili, Suhail Al Shimari and Asa’ad Al-Zuba’e, awarding each $3 million in compensation and another $11 million for punitive damages against CACI Premier Technology, Inc., a publicly traded defense contractor with annual revenues approaching $3 billion.
The eight jurors found unanimously that late in 2003 CACI interrogators conspired “with military personnel to inflict torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment on detainees in the Abu Ghraib hard site that resulted in [each of the three men] being tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.”
Following US’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq based on lies about complicity in the 9/11 attacks and “weapons of mass destruction,” in April 2004, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” published graphic photos of Iraqis rounded up by the US military and incarcerated in Abu Ghraib Prison outside Bhagdad being tortured by electric shocks, held in stress positions, threatened with dogs and humiliated sexually. Many photos depict gloating US soldiers posing with victims.
"It wasn't us, it was the contractors."
And 20 years? That's a far cry from justice.
War crimes for thee but not me