Military contractor sues Abu Ghraib detainees for legal expenses

Military contractor sues Abu Ghraib detainees for legal expenses
Julie Deisher at 6:39 AM ET

[JURIST] CACI International Inc. "CACI" [corporate website], a US military defense contractor, has filed suit against former detainees of Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] seeking legal expenses after a group of four plaintiffs filed lawsuits [CCR materials] against CACI in 2009, accusing the company of crimes against humanity, sexual assault, torture and other violations at Abu Ghraib prison. In June a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] dismissed [opinion, PDF] the detainee's case, ruling that because the alleged abuse took place overseas the court had no jurisdiction to decide the case. CACI is now asking [RT report] its accusers to pay $15,580 for legal expenses. Engility Holdings Inc. [corporate website], another defense contractor accused of torture related to Abu Ghraib, settled [JURIST report] with 71 former detainees held at Abu Ghraib and other US-run detainment sites in Iraq between 2003 and 2007 for a total of $5.28 million. The cases against CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. were dismissed [JURIST report] in September 2011 on the grounds that the companies have immunity as government contractors. However, a 14-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled 12-2 last year that the dismissal was premature [JURIST report]. US military personnel have also been accused of torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Army Spc. Charles Graner [JURIST news archive], the convicted ringleader of abuses committed at the prison, was released [JURIST report] last August for good behavior after serving more than six-and-a-half years of his 10-year sentence. Graner was convicted [JURIST report] in 2005 of conspiracy, assault, maltreating prisoners, dereliction of duty and committing indecent acts and received the longest sentence of the six others involved in the abuses. In June 2011 the DOJ initiated a grand jury investigation [JURIST report] into the torture and death of a detainee at Abu Ghraib. Manadel Al-Jamadi was captured [JURIST report] by US Navy SEALs in 2003 and held in Abu Ghraib as a "ghost detainee," or unregistered prisoner, for his suspected involvement in the bombing of a Red Cross center in Baghdad that killed 12 people. The US military has never revealed the exact circumstances of his death, which was ruled a homicide [JURIST report]. Reports show he died while suspended by his wrists, which were handcuffed behind his back.