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The Abu Ghraib abuse scandal 20 years on: What redress for victims?

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The Abu Ghraib abuse scandal 20 years on: What redress for victims?

When the US TV news programme 60 Minutes II revealed images of Iraqi men being abused and humiliated by their American jailers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq 20 years ago this weekend, the United States-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq was just 13 months old.

Toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who had been captured by US forces more than four months earlier, was awaiting trial on charges of crimes against humanity, and the Iraqi state itself was in the grip of violence and disorder.

For many in the Arab world, Abu Ghraib quickly became a symbol of US imperialism and hypocrisy, shattering then-US President George W Bush’s repeated claims that the US was a bastion of human rights.

Two decades later, a civil case that has been brought by Abu Ghraib victims against a US contractor that operated at the prison is under way. Many are now viewing Israel’s ongoing US-backed military action in the Gaza Strip, where more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed since October, through the prism of the Abu Ghraib scandal, which first came to light on April 28, 2004, and sent shockwaves around the world.

A US soldier points to cells where ‘high-risk’ detainees were kept at Abu Ghraib prison on May 10, 2004. In April 2004, a CBS News programme revealed photographs showing Iraqi prisoners being sexually assaulted and humiliated at the facility [Khampha Bouaphanh/Knight Ridder/Tribune KB/DS/ACM/Reuters]

What did the Abu Ghraib images show?

The photographs broadcast on 60 Minutes showed US guards at Abu Ghraib subjecting Iraqi prisoners to various forms of violence, sexual assault and humiliation. Many of the prisoners had been apprehended by US soldiers on suspicion of being part of armed groups, but according to the International Red Cross, 70 percent to 90 percent of them were innocent bystanders who had been arrested mistakenly.

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One image showed naked prisoners heaped into a pyramid with their US captors standing smiling behind them. Another showed a US soldier holding a naked prisoner on a leash.

However, the defining image of the scandal proved to be the haunting depiction of a hooded Iraqi man holding electrical wires and standing on a box.

Then-US General Mark Kimmitt, who was deputy director of coalition operations in Iraq and was interviewed for the April 2004 CBS News story, said: “Frankly, I think all of us are disappointed at the actions of the few. You know, every day we love our soldiers, … but frankly, some days we’re not always proud of our soldiers.”

Subsequent revelations by CBS News disclosed that the US army report on which the US broadcaster had based its original story on Abu Ghraib had in fact detailed “numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” of Iraqis by US soldiers at the prison.

Abu Ghraib
Iraqi artist Salaheddin al-Sallat creates a mural depicting the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison on the main street of al-Sadr, Baghdad, on May 23, 2004 [Salah Malkawi/Getty Images]

Was there any other evidence of abuse at Abu Ghraib?

Soon after the photographs of US soldiers humiliating and mistreating Iraq men were released on CBS News, the International Committee of the Red Cross published its own report on abuse at the prison.

The report detailed incidents of abuse witnessed by Red Cross observers from March to November 2003 and carried out “during arrest, internment and interrogation”, particularly of “persons arrested in connection with suspected security offences or deemed to have an ‘intelligence’ value”.

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The Red Cross said it had uncovered numerous examples of violations of the Geneva Conventions by US military personnel. For example, the report said Red Cross observers had witnessed US soldiers mistreating Abu Ghraib prisoners by keeping them naked in total darkness in empty cells.

In the executive summary for its report, the Red Cross said so-called high value detainees “were at high risk of being subjected to a variety of harsh treatments ranging from insults, threats and humiliations to both physical and psychological coercion, which in some cases was tantamount to torture, in order to force cooperation with their interrogators”.

The abuse was, “in some cases, tantamount to torture”, the Red Cross report said.

Were any US soldiers held accountable?

Private Lynndie England, the soldier pictured holding a leash attached to a naked Iraqi man lying on the ground at Abu Ghraib prison, which had been a notorious place of torture during the presidency of Saddam Hussein himself, appeared in several prisoner abuse images. In 2005, England was found guilty of six counts of abuse by a US military court and sentenced to three years in prison. She was released in March 2007.

Charles Graner Jr, a US army prison guard convicted by a military court of leading the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib, was handed a 10-year prison term in 2005 after being convicted of five counts of assault, maltreatment and conspiracy. Graner was freed in August 2011.

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Of the 11 soldiers court-martialled by the US military for mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, nine were given jail time.

But it soon became apparent that American abuse of Iraqi inmates was not confined to Abu Ghraib. Indeed, after CBS revealed the Abu Ghraib scandal, the news corporation started to learn of the existence of army investigator interviews that also brought to light the abuse of prisoners at other detention centres in Iraq, such as al-Mahmudiya prison, a temporary holding facility, for which other US military personnel were also jailed.

Abu Ghraib
Iraqi detainees stand in line to be processed for release from Abu Ghraib prison on September 26, 2005 [Reuters]

Have Iraqi victims of US torture received any kind of redress?

In September, Human Rights Watch said: “The US government has apparently failed to provide compensation or other redress to Iraqis who suffered torture and other abuse by US forces at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons in Iraq two decades ago.”

The existence of the Federal Tort Claims Act, which gives the US government immunity from any lawsuits arising during war, means seeking redress is particularly difficult.

Instead, Iraqi victims of US abuse have been forced to pursue US military contractors, which Chris Bartlett, a US photographer who has been shooting portraits of Abu Ghraib’s torture survivors since 2006, noted to Al Jazeera were “hired … to create a layer of liability distance so the federal government could be shielded from responsibility”.

Most recently, on April 15 this year, a federal court in Virginia began hearing the case of Al Shimari et al v CACI, a private security firm hired in 2003 by the US government to interrogate Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

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The defendants are being represented by the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which in 2013 won a $5m settlement for its Iraqi clients from Titan Corp, another military firm working at Abu Ghraib.

In the Virginia case, the advocacy group is seeking compensation for three Iraqi clients – Suhail Najim Abdullah Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and As’ad Al-Zuba’e – who allege that “CACI participated in a conspiracy to commit unlawful conduct including torture and war crimes at Abu Ghraib prison,” where they were tortured.

On Monday, the eight-person jury in the case retired to consider its verdict.

Why has Israel’s war on Gaza drawn comparisons with US torture at Abu Ghraib?

Israel’s deadly campaign of air strikes against the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, was soon followed by reports of Israeli soldiers beating and humiliating detained Palestinians, which many likened to US torture at Abu Ghraib.

On October 31, the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace wrote on X: “The footage of Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinian men in the West Bank is horrific. The Israeli military has brutally abused Palestinian prisoners for decades. As the Israeli military wages a genocidal war in Gaza, its soldiers are no longer hiding this abuse from the public.”

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It added: “It’s no surprise … that the same government that tortured Iraqis in Abu Ghraib is funding the same tactics on Palestinians.”

Sarah Sanbar, an Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera that a former Iraqi detainee told her images of stripped Palestinians being rounded up and restrained by Israeli forces in Gaza were “very retraumatising and triggering and took him right back to 2003 and 2004 when he was being tortured [by the Americans] at Abu Ghraib”.

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Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant

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Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant
Italian state railways Ferrovie dello Stato plans to invest 1.3 billion euros ($1.36 billion) in a photovoltaic plant with an initial 1 gigawatt (GW) capacity that would cover 19% of its energy needs by 2029, the CEO said in a newspaper interview.
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Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more

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Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more

Christmas, Navidad in Puerto Rico, extends far beyond Dec. 25. 

The island proudly proclaims itself as having the “longest holiday season in the world,” according to the website Discover Puerto Rico. 

On average, the holiday festivities in Puerto Rico last about 45 days, per the source, commencing right after Thanksgiving, and stretching all the way through mid-January. 

The Christmas season in Puerto Rico typically lasts around 45 days. (iStock)

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The holiday season in Puerto Rico is full of rich traditions beloved by families. 

One tradition those who visit Puerto Rico will immediately notice during the holiday season is decorations. 

In Puerto Rico, decorations are typically put up by Thanksgiving, and kept up until the season concludes in mid-January, with opportune picture moments at every corner. 

Parrandas, Christmas caroling, is a holiday staple. 

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Carolers choose houses of family and friends to visit, typically starting around 10 p.m., performing aguinaldos (traditional Christmas songs), with not only their voices, but often with instruments as well, according to Discover Puerto Rico. 

The group you begin caroling with is likely not the same group you end with. 

In Puerto Rico, when carolers visit a house, they’ll often stop inside for conversation, food and drink before moving to the next residence. 

Coquito

Coquito is a popular beverage enjoyed during the holiday season in Puerto Rico. Coconut, vanilla and rum are among the ingredients. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Usually, the residences of the house visited will join the group for the next house, according to Discover Puerto Rico. 

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A night of serenading loved ones can last quite a while, often stretching into the early morning hours of the following day, according to the source. 

The biggest day of the holiday season in Puerto Rico actually isn’t Christmas, but instead, the night before. 

In Puerto Rico, Dec. 24 is Nochebuena. On that day, loved ones gather for the exchange of gifts, caroling and a large feast. 

Many families will also attend a midnight Mass on the day, known as Misa de Gallo. 

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After Christmas passes, the festivities go on in Puerto Rico. 

Another big event in the holiday lineup is Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, a holiday that “commemorates the visit that the Three Wise Men paid to Jesus after his birth,” according to Discover Puerto Rico. 

On the eve of the day, children fill up a shoebox with grass to be left for camels to munch on while the Three Kings leave behind gifts for them, according to PuertoRico.com. 

For a particularly festive Three Kings Day, Juana Díaz is the place to go, as it hosts the largest celebration in Puerto Rico for the holiday. In Juana Díaz, there is an annual festival and parade in honor of Three Kings Day that brings together over 25,000 people every year, according to Discover Puerto Rico. 

Woman Wrapping Christmas Gifts

Gifts are primarily exchanged between loved ones on Christmas Eve in Puerto Rico. (iStock)

 

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Then, eight days later is Octavitas, a post-holiday celebration where families get together and celebrate one last time for the season. 

The end of the holiday season is marked with the San Sebastián Street Festival.

This festival, spanning over multiple days, takes place in Old San Juan, and is filled with live music, dancing, shopping and parades. 

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Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10

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Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10

Twin-engine plane crashed in largely residential neighborhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff, authorities say.

A small plane has crashed into a tourist hotspot in southern Brazil, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen people on the ground, officials have said.

The twin-engine Piper PA-42-1000 hit the chimney of a home and the second floor of a different house before crashing into a shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff from Canela, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday.

Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told a news conference that the aircraft’s owner and pilot, Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, was killed along with nine members of his family.

Leite said that 17 people on the ground were injured, 12 of whom were still receiving treatment in hospital.

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Galeazzi’s company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that its CEO and Galeazzi’s wife and three daughters had died in the crash.

“Luiz Galeazzi will be forever remembered for his dedication to his family and for his remarkable career as a leader of Galeazzi & Associados,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.

“In this moment of immense pain, Galeazzi & Associados is deeply grateful for the expressions of solidarity and affection received from friends, colleagues and the community. We also sympathize with all those affected by the accident in the region.”

Gramado, located in the Serra Gaucha mountains, is a popular destination for vacationers, especially during the Christmas season.

The crash comes a little more than a year after Brazil suffered its worst air disaster in nearly two decades when a twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern city of Vinhedo, killing all 62 people on board.

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