(Al Jazeera Media Network) A United States defence contractor must pay $42 million to three Iraqi men who were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison, a US federal jury has ruled.
The ruling on Tuesday ends a 15-year legal battle over the role of Virginia-based contractor CACI, whose civilian employees worked at the facility, in acts of torture that took place there.
In holding the firm liable, the jury awarded plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’ad Al-Zubae $3 million each in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages.
The decision comes after a separate federal trial in May ended in a hung jury.
Al Shimari, a middle school principal, Al-Ejaili, a journalist, and Al-Zuba’e, a fruit vendor, testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at Abu Ghraib.
While they did not allege that CACI’s interrogators explicitly inflicted the abuse themselves, they argued that CACI was complicit because its interrogators conspired with military police to “soften up” detainees for questioning with harsh treatment.
The evidence included reports from two retired US Army generals, who documented the abuse and concluded that multiple CACI interrogators were complicit in the abuse.
Most of the abuse took place at the end of 2003, when CACI employees were working in the prison, according to the suit.
Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf, called the verdict “an important measure of justice and accountability,” and praised the three plaintiffs for their resilience, “especially in the face of all the obstacles CACI threw their way.”
The $42 million fully matches the amount sought by the plaintiffs, Azmy said.
“Today is a big day for me and for justice,” said Al-Ejaili, who travelled to the US to testify in person. “I’ve waited a long time for this day. This victory isn’t only for the three plaintiffs in this case against a corporation. This victory is a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed and a strong warning to any company or contractor practising different forms of torture and abuse.”
The lawsuit was first filed in 2008 but was delayed by 15 years of legal wrangling and multiple attempts by CACI to have the case dismissed.