Abu Ghraib victims file lawsuit in Washington

By: Mohamed Ali

WASHINGTON: Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail abuse victims have filed a lawsuit in an American district court under the Alien Tort Claims Act under which legal action is allowed to be brought in a US court concerning “violation(s) of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States”.

The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a US District Court in Washington names CACI International and Titan Corporation, which had employees at the notorious Baghdad prison under a contract with the Pentagon.

According to the lawsuit the Iraqis “were unlawfully tortured by agents or employees of the defendants, who were under contract with the United States government to provide security and intelligence services” to US armed forces.

The accusations covered a wide range of abusive conduct, including beatings, being deprived of food and water, being hanged by an injured arm from a rail, being photographed naked and being threatened with dogs and prolonged exposure to cold weather.

It maintains that the company and its employees “committed unlawful acts of torture ... for which there is no adequate or available remedy under Iraqi law”.

The lawsuit, which marked the latest action since the scandal broke this year over photographs showing Iraqi prisoners humiliated and abused by US forces, seeks unspecified damages for the four Iraqis and the widow of the one who died after being tortured at the prison.

The plaintiffs include Ilham Nassir Ibrahim, widow of Akram Hanush Yaku, who - according to the lawsuit - died on 2 January after being tortured at the prison. The other plaintiffs were named as Ali Shallal Abbas, Nasser Khalaf Abbas, Saddam Salih Abbud and Jilal Mahdi Hadud.

Abbud, in his statement filed with the lawsuit, said he endured repeated beatings and that during one session, his hood was removed and he saw the prison commander General Janis Karpinski, according to The Washington Post.

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