A United States jury has dominated that Virginia-based defence contractor CACI must pay $42m to a few Iraqi males who have been tortured on the Abu Ghraib jail in 2004.
However what precisely was it and what occurred there? What was the case about? Right here’s what you should know:
What was Abu Ghraib?
Abu Ghraib, a most safety jail in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, was used by the US to “interrogate suspects” after it invaded Iraq.
Established within the Fifties, it was utilized by former President Saddam Hussein to carry political prisoners throughout his presidency from 1979 to 2003.
After the US invaded Iraq in 2003, overthrowing Hussein who was subsequently executed, Abu Ghraib was taken over by the US navy.
In September 2006, Abu Ghraib was handed over to the Iraqis and in April 2014, it was closed.
Was there abuse and torture at Abu Ghraib?
Sure.
In 2003, images of imprisoned Iraqis struggling abuse by the hands of US jail guards began to floor.
Like one among a hooded prisoner related to electrical wires and compelled to face on a small field.
He had been informed he can be electrocuted if he fell off the field.
The image was of Ali Shallal al-Qaysi, who testified about it in 2005.
After he was now not ready to make use of his hand because of the torture, the American guards began calling him “Claw Man”.
Different photos present prisoners compelled into humiliating positions, typically with excrement smeared on them, whereas US jail guards posed, smiling, beside them.
Was something finished concerning the abusers?
Inquiries have been launched in 2004 by now-retired US Main Basic Antonio Taguba and now-retired US Main Basic George Fay. One other investigation was launched in 2008 by the US Senate Committee on Armed Companies.
These inquiries uncovered extra concerning the abuse that passed off at Abu Ghraib, which included sexual abuse, rape, and bodily and psychological torture and resulted within the demise of at the very least one inmate, Manadel al-Jamadi.
Within the years that adopted, 11 US troopers have been charged with dereliction of obligation, maltreatment, aggravated assault and battery. They have been convicted in navy courts, and 9 have been sentenced to time in jail.
A civil lawsuit in opposition to CACI by 4 Iraqi prisoners who had been tortured at Abu Ghraib was filed in 2008 by the New York-based nonprofit Middle for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of the plaintiffs.
The swimsuit charged that CACI operatives had been offering “interrogation providers” in Abu Ghraib.
What was the results of the US civil lawsuit?
A US federal jury dominated on Tuesday that CACI should pay three Iraqi civilian plaintiffs – Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’advert Al-Zubae – $3m every in compensatory damages and $11m every in punitive damages.
The fourth plaintiff, Taha Yaseen Arraq Rashid, was faraway from the case in 2019 as a result of he was abused earlier than CACI was current at Abu Ghraib.
CACI signed a subcontracting settlement with the US authorities in 2003, receiving greater than $19m for “interrogation providers”.
The plaintiffs had been launched with out ever being charged with a criminal offense, based on the CCR.
Who’re the plaintiffs? What was finished to them?
In November 2003, Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman Al-Ejaili was arrested by a US soldier whereas engaged on a narrative about an assault in opposition to US forces in Diyala – he ended up detained for months.
“The worst was the primary day I arrived in Abu Ghraib, how they compelled me to strip … bare in entrance of everybody,” Ejaili stated.
“They positioned a black hood on my head and left me hanging all night time,” he stated, including that the Individuals sang “Glad birthday, Al Jazeera” to him as he hung there. He was launched after two months.
Al Shimari was in Abu Ghraib from 2003 to 2008, throughout which era, he stated, he was threatened with canines, electrocuted and compelled to partake in bodily actions whereas bare.
Al-Zubae was held from 2003 to 2004, throughout which he was tortured, together with solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, and intensely cold and hot water.
What occurred throughout the case?
CACI tried to have the case dismissed greater than 20 instances. Here’s a timeline of different occasions:
- June 30, 2008: CCR information a lawsuit in a US federal court docket for Ohio on behalf of the three plaintiffs in addition to Rashid.
- August 2008: Case is transferred to Virginia.
- February 27, 2019: Plaintiff Rashid is dropped as a result of he was abused earlier than CACI personnel arrived at Abu Ghraib.
- April 15, 2024: Trial begins – the primary time victims of abuse at Abu Ghraib testify to a US jury.
- Might 2, 2024: Jury fails to succeed in a unanimous verdict, the decide declares a mistrial.
- June 14, 2024: Decide grants the plaintiffs’ movement for a brand new trial.
- October 30, 2024: Retrial begins in federal court docket in Virginia.
- November 12, 2024: The jury finds CACI accountable for its function in torturing the plaintiffs at Abu Ghraib.
Was this the one case of Abu Ghraib torture?
No.
In June 2004, preliminary complaints for a class-action swimsuit on behalf of 256 Iraqi civilians tortured in Abu Ghraib have been filed by CCR and different counsel.
Lead plaintiff Haidar Saleh, a Swedish citizen, was detained at Abu Ghraib twice – as soon as by the Iraqi authorities earlier than the US invasion of Iraq and as soon as by US forces.
The defendants have been CACI, US non-public contractor L-3 Companies (previously Titan Company), and Adel Nakhla, a former worker of Titan/L-3.
In June 2011, the US Supreme Courtroom declined, with out remark, to take up the case.
In June 2008, Wissam Al-Quraishi, and 71 others who stated they’d been tortured at Abu Ghraib and different prisons filed a case in opposition to L-3 Companies and Nakhla.
In October 2012, a settlement was reached in that case, particulars of which haven’t been disclosed.
