A United States soldier at the centre of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal was on Thursday sentenced to eight years for sexually and physically abusing detainees.
Staff Sergeant Ivan ”Chip” Frederick (38) who admitted carrying out a mock electrocution of a detainee, was also given a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a dishonourable discharge.
Frederick, an army reservist from Buckingham, Virginia, pleaded guilty at the court martial on Wednesday to eight counts of abusing and humiliating Iraqi detainees.
It was the longest sentence in the three convictions so far related to the abuses at Abu Ghraib, exposed in April with the publication of photographs and video showing US soldiers abusing naked Iraqis.
Frederick’s lawyer, Gary Myers, called the sentence excessive and said he intended to appeal to seek a reduction.
Frederick, a military policeman who is a prison officer in civilian life, acknowledged his part in the abuse but also blamed his chain of command, telling the court prisoners were forced to submit to public nudity and degrading treatment ”for military intelligence purposes”.
During the court martial, Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Kramer, a military intelligence soldier called as a witness, referred to an e-mail from the US command in Baghdad telling him to order his interrogators to be tough on prisoners. ”The gloves are coming off, gentlemen, regarding these detainees,” said the e-mail. It added that the command ”wants the detainees broken”.
Frederick, who was in charge of the night shift at the ”hard site” facility at Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, said military intelligence soldiers and civilian interrogators told guards how to treat detainees.
That included stripping detainees, depriving them of sleep or taking away their cigarettes, Frederick said. Investigators wanted detainees ”stressed out, wanted them to talk more,” he added.
Two psychologists who testified for the defence described Frederick as an introvert who depended heavily on others and had a strong desire to please, which they said helped explain why he did not discipline colleagues for abusing prisoners.
”Give me an image of the all-American boy, and it’s this young man,” said a San Francisco-based doctor, Philip Zimbardo. ”He is a wonderful young man who did these horrible things.”
But Major Michael Holley, prosecuting, told the court Frederick was an adult who could tell right from wrong.
”This behaviour should not be subjected or imposed on any human being,” he said, showing a picture of prisoners, naked, bound and hooded.
He added: ”How much training do you need to learn that it’s wrong to force a man to masturbate?”
The presiding military judge, Colonel James Pohl, originally sentenced Frederick to 10 years, but cut this to eight years because of a plea bargain. He is the second member of the 372nd military police to plead guilty in return for reducing the gravity of charges against him.
As part of the deal, he will testify at trials of other soldiers linked to the scandal.
Elsewhere, there was still no news on Thursday of Margaret Hassan, the British-Iraqi aid worker kidnapped on Tuesday, as her husband renewed calls for her release.
Hassan, director of operations for the aid agency Care International in Iraq, was snatched on her way to work and later shown in a video broadcast by the television station al-Jazeera.
At a press conference, Ali Hassan said he still had no idea which group had kidnapped his wife.
”Release my wife. She’s Iraqi; she’s working for a humanitarian organisation and I ask you to release her,” he said, addressing the kidnappers.
In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying female employees of Iraqi Airways to the airport, killing one and injuring 14.
In Falluja, city leaders called on Ayad Allawi, Iraqi prime minister, to force a halt to the frequent US air strikes on the city. – Guardian Unlimited Â