Abu Ghraib detainee shares emotional testimony during trial against Virginia military contractor

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A former detainee from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison described to jurors on Monday the kind of abuse reminiscent of the scandal that broke out there two decades ago: beatings, being stripped naked and threatened with dogs, stress positions designed to relieve exhaustion and pain. wake up.

The testimony of Salah Al-Ejaili, a former Al-Jazeera journalist who spent more than a month in Abu Ghraib in 2003, marks the first time that survivors of the US prison in Iraq have been able to present their claims of torture to a US military. jury.

Al-Ejaili and two other Abu Ghraib detainees have filed a lawsuit against Virginia-based military contractor CACI. They accuse the company of contributing to their torture by sending civilian interrogators as part of an army contract. The lawsuit cites evidence from government investigations that CACI contractors encouraged military police to “soften up” detainees prior to their interrogations.

CACI’s attorney, John O’Connor, acknowledged that some Abu Ghraib detainees suffered horrific abuse, but offered the company a three-pronged defense in his opening statement to the jury.

First, he questions whether the three inmates who filed the lawsuit can actually prove that they themselves were abused. They are not pictured in the widely circulated photos that leaked in 2004 when news of the abuse broke and shocked the world. He told the jury that official documents, for example, show no formal interrogations of Al-Ejaili, even though he testified that he was interrogated many times and was often beaten at the beginning of each interrogation.

The jury received a written statement from the US government confirming that no formal interrogation records exist, but that statement also vaguely stated that there was “other information” that could indicate that a CACI interrogator had captured Al-Ejaili at some point. moment questioned.

CACI’s attorney also said that even if the three plaintiffs were abused, there is no evidence that CACI interrogators inflicted abuse on them. He said the soldiers seen in photos smiling next to naked, abused prisoners were the ones who committed the abuse, and that they had rightly been convicted of crimes long ago in military trials.

“They were MPs who were sadistic, who did it on their own, and without any encouragement,” O’Connor said of the military police ranks.

Finally, he said that even if CACI employees engaged in misconduct, it was the U.S. military, not the company, that oversaw the interrogators’ conduct. He rejected the idea that CACI citizens decided of their own accord to abuse detainees.

“The military is quite jealous of who has control over operations in a war zone,” he argued.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Baher Azmy, said it is irrelevant whether CACI interrogators directly abused his clients. The company is liable, he said, because CACI interrogators conspired with military police by encouraging them to abuse detainees before interrogating them.

He said the jury will hear from two army generals, Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba and Maj. Gen. George Fay, who concluded through an investigation that there was a gap in the chain of command that was being filled by civilians. Taguba’s report concluded that at least one CACI interrogator should be held responsible for instructing military police to create conditions amounting to physical abuse.

“This case is about one of the most disturbing and shameful events in recent American history,” Azmy said at the start of his opening statement.

The trial in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, which was delayed for more than 15 years due to legal wrangling and multiple appeals, is now moving at a breakneck pace. On Monday alone, a jury convened, opening arguments were heard, and three key witnesses testified, including Al-Ejaili; a former CACI interrogator, Torin Nelson, who testified about his concerns about the actions of some of his colleagues; and former Army Cpl. Charles Graner, member of the military police who was tried and convicted by court-martial for abusing prisoners.

Nelson testified that the other interrogators lacked experience, and he was dismayed to see unprofessional comments on their reports, such as one interrogator noting in one report that a detainee was “crying like a little baby in the corner.”

Under cross-examination, he said he had not witnessed any physical abuse by a CACI interrogator.

“I was worried, but I didn’t see anything with my own eyes,” Nelson said.

Graner’s testimony came in the form of a recorded video statement from 2013 that was played for the jury, in which he said civilian interrogators gave him instructions on how to interact with detainees and told him he was doing a good job.

Al-Ejaili’s testimony was emotional and he choked up several times as he described the abuse. He remembered sitting naked in a cold cell and asked a female soldier if he could have something to wear. She came back with red women’s underwear.

On another occasion, investigators handcuffed his hands to a pipe while his feet dangled. Through an Arabic interpreter, he told the jury that it felt “as if your shoulders were being pulled out of place.”

He said it was important for him to be able to tell his story to a jury now, even 20 years later.

“It’s a great opportunity to tell people my story,” he said. “Maybe it’s a form of treatment or a cure.”