Damages at the infamous prison during the US invasion of Iraq must be paid by the US defense contractor CACI International.
US defense contractor CACI International was forced to pay $42 million in damages after a federal jury found it accountable for its involvement in torture at the Abu Ghraib jail outside Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the Virginia-based business was found guilty by the jury on Tuesday of torturing Iraqi detainees at the prison between 2003 and 2004 and was sentenced to pay $14 million in damages to each of the three plaintiffs.
With Tuesday’s decision, a civilian contractor was legally held accountable for the abuse at the prison for the first time.
The three claimed that they endured terrible treatment at the prison, including forced nudity, sexual abuse, and beatings.
In a statement, CACI said it was disappointed by the decision and that it would be appealing.
Horrible torment
After images of the abuse surfaced in 2004, the torture of US forces’ prisoners during the invasion of Iraq at the facility became a controversy during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
In the pictures, US soldiers could be seen grinning, giggling, and giving the thumbs up while putting captives in degrading postures. According to the detainees, they suffered from mock executions, electric shocks, and physical and sexual abuse.
Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili, and As’ad Al-Zuba’e, three Iraqi plaintiffs, claimed that CACI interrogators would order military staff to “soften up” captives prior to questioning them, resulting in abuses throughout the facility.
In the end, the plaintiffs were freed without being charged.
There was broad international condemnation of the US invasion of Iraq, which killed hundreds of thousands of people and was based on false claims that the country possessed WMD.
WMDs were never discovered in Iraq, Bush eventually acknowledged. No charges were ever brought against him.
