Abu Ghraib detainees suing US contractors

Four men formerly held at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq today filed lawsuits against US private security firms CACI and L-3, accusing the companies of torture and war crimes. The lawsuits, filed in the US states of Washington, Maryland, Michigan, and Ohio, allege that the four detainees were subjected to frequent beatings, caging, electric shocks, and threatened with dogs. One of the plaintiffs, a 36-year-old shopkeeper named Sa'adoon Ali Hameed Al-Ogaidi, claims he was a "ghost detainee" hidden from the Red Cross during his year at Abu Ghraib, the site of a now-infamous prisoner abuse scandal in 2003. "Private military contractors and the individuals they employ cannot act with impunity," Katherine Gallagher, an attorney assisting the men through the non-profit Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), said. "Contractors must... [read full story]