A US judge has awarded $42m (£33m) to three ex-prisoners at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based contractor guilty of complicity in their abuse two decades ago.
The decision against CACI Premier Technology comes from the second trial of this case. The first ended in a mistrial in the spring after a jury could not reach a verdict.
The court heard directly from the plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa'ad Al-Zubae, who filed the case for the first time in 2008.
They described beatings, sexual assaults, forced nudity and other brutal treatment by their guards.
CACI handed over investigators to the US Army in a prison west of Baghdad. In court, the contractor's lawyers argued that its workers were not directly involved in the torture by the military police.
But the judges sided with the plaintiffs and their claims that CACI was still liable, because the interrogators they had assigned had ordered the military police to “soften” the prisoners.
CACI in a statement said that we have been made a scapegoat.
“To be clear: no CACI employee has ever been charged – criminally, civilly, or administratively – in this matter,” the company said.
The landmark ruling reportedly marks the first time an illegal contractor has been formally charged for the degrading treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
The judge awarded the plaintiffs Mr al-Shimari, a middle school principal, Mr al-Ejaili, a journalist, and Mr al-Zubae, a fruit seller, $3m each in compensatory damages and $11m each in punitive damages.
“I have been waiting for this day for a long time,” Mr al-Ejaili said in a statement after the verdict. “This victory is a bright light for everyone who has been oppressed and is a strong warning to any company or contractor that engages in various forms of harassment and abuse.”
Hundreds of men were arrested and held at Abu Ghraib by US forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In 2004, disturbing prison footage was leaked, including one showing a soldier dragging a naked prisoner on a dog leash. The images caused widespread condemnation.
11 American soldiers were convicted of military violations, but most received sentences of only a few years. The last remaining soldier convicted in this case was released in August 2011.
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