Abu Ghraib torture survivors win US civil case, $42m damages
Al Jazeera
Defence contractor CACI, whose employees worked at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib, ordered to pay damages after 15-year legal delays.
A United States defence contractor must pay $42m to three Iraqi men who were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison, a US federal jury has ruled.
The ruling on Tuesday ends a 15-year legal battle over the role of Virginia-based contractor CACI, whose civilian employees worked at the facility, in acts of torture that took place there.
In holding the firm liable, the jury awarded plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’ad Al-Zubae $3m each in compensatory damages and $11m each in punitive damages.
The decision comes after a separate federal trial in May ended in a hung jury.
Al Shimari, a middle school principal, Al-Ejaili, a journalist, and Al-Zuba’e, a fruit vendor, testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at Abu Ghraib.
