"US jury awards $42m to ex-detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib", 12 October 2024

A US jury has awarded $42m (£33m) to three former detainees of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based defence contractor responsible for contributing to their abuse two decades ago...

The court heard directly from plaintiffs Suhail al-Shimari, Salah al-Ejaili and Asa’ad al-Zubae, who first filed the case in 2008.

They described beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the hands of their jailers.

CACI supplied interrogators to the US Army at the prison west of Baghdad. In court, lawyers for the contractor argued that its employees were not directly involved in the abuse, which was carried out by military police.

But the jury sided with the plaintiffs and their claims that CACI was still liable, because the interrogators they supplied had instructed the military police to "soften up" the detainees.

CACI said in a statement that it had been made a scapegoat.

“To be clear: no CACI employee has ever been charged - criminally, civilly, or administratively - in this matter," the company said.

The landmark verdict reportedly marks the first time a civilian contractor has been held legally responsible for the degrading treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib...