US Defense Contractors Sued Over Iraq Torture
Posted: Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Three Iraqis and one Jordanian have filed a lawsuit against a group of US defense contractors, claiming that the defendants were involved in their torture and humiliation when they were at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. The lawsuits have been filed in Greenbelt, Maryland; Detroit; Columbus in Ohio, and Seattle.
The lawsuits have been filed against the contractors as well as against the companies that they worked for. The complaints claim that the prisoners were forced into nudity, and were then subjected to mock executions and electrical shocks, in addition to other abuse and ill-treatment.
Susan Burke, of the Philadelphia law firm Burke O’Neil, said: “These innocent men were senselessly tortured by U.S. companies that profited from their misery. These men came to U.S. courts because our laws, as they have for generations, allow their claims to be heard here.”
The lawsuit seeks damages that will compensate the prisoners for the abuse and injuries that they suffered, and that will deter other contractors from acting in a similar way in the future. A lawyer for one of the defendant’s, Daniel Johnson, denied the allegations, stating: “Daniel Johnson went to Iraq as a 21-year-old, fresh out of the Army, in order to serve his country, which he did honourably.”
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