US guard 'stomped on fingers' in Iraq jail

10.30am

WASHINGTON - The first American soldier convicted in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal testified on Monday that Private Lynndie England, the soldier photographed holding an Iraqi on a leash, stomped on prisoners' fingers and toes.

Private Jeremy Sivits testified at the resumption of a military court hearing for England, the pregnant 21-year-old soldier who became the public face of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, a scandal that shocked world opinion and rattled US efforts to stabilise Iraq.

England, one of seven military police officers charged, faces 19 counts of assault, conspiracy to mistreat prisoners, committing indecent acts, disobeying orders and possessing sexually explicit material. She could face up to 38 years in prison if convicted.

The hearing at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is a preliminary phase of military court proceedings and will help determine if she should face trial. Twenty-five witnesses testified from August 3 to August 7 before the hearing was halted.

Testifying by phone from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Sivits told the court that he saw England standing behind a group of prisoners on the floor when he entered the Abu Ghraib cellblock known as Tier 1 on November 8, 2003.

Sivits encountered England, Staff Sergeant "Chip" Frederick, Charles Graner and others with a group of detainees who had supposedly tried to start a riot.

"They were stomping on the fingers and toes of the detainees," Sivits said, referring to England and Graner. England, wearing a maternity camouflage uniform, listened to the testimony in the Fort Bragg courtroom.

England's lawyers have tried to show she was following orders when she was photographed with humiliated prisoners. In one photo she holds an Iraqi detainee on a leash and in another she points at the genitals of a hooded, naked man.

Last week, a panel headed by former Defence Secretary James Schlesinger issued a report accusing the US military chain of command from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on down of leadership failures that created conditions for the abuse.

According to Sivits, a non-commissioned officer who was present told the MPs to "knock it off," but after the NCO left, abuse continued.

Sivits said Graner ordered the detainees to strip down.

"Once they were stripped down that's when they put them in a pyramid and started taking pictures."

The prisoners were also lined up naked against a wall, at which point, "England began making comments about their penis, things of that nature."

Sivits said he knew what he was seeing was wrong but did not try to stop the abuse or tell anyone what he had seen. Before he left the prison that night, Sivits was told by Graner "that he didn't see" anything, a statement that Sivits said he took as an order.

In May, Sivits admitted he sexually humiliated prisoners. He was demoted to private, thrown out of the military on a bad conduct discharge and jailed for 12 months.

England's attorneys asked Sivits about his training regarding the Geneva Conventions and the acceptable treatment of prisoners, as part of their larger defence that higher-ups were responsible for the abuse at Abu Ghraib.

Although Sivits said he had never been ordered to abuse prisoners, he said he had never received a copy of the Geneva Conventions or any training regarding the conventions.

A second witness on Monday, Sergeant Kenneth Davis, said he saw England taking pictures of prisoners in the cellblock. When he later voiced concerns about prisoner abuse to superiors, Davis said an officer in his chain of command gave him the impression he should "not get involved and stay out of the way."

Defence attorneys asked the hearing officer, Colonel Denise Arn, to allow them to call more witnesses. Arn agreed to reconvene the hearing on Tuesday to consider the request.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq