IRAQ: A former inmate at Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison has said he was beaten by US army specialist Charles Graner while recovering from a bullet wound and called Spc Graner the top torturer in the prison.
Speaking in video testimony at Spc Graner's court-martial at Ford Hood, Texas, yesterday, Ameed Al-Sheikh, a Syrian who said he went to Iraq to oppose the US occupation, said Spc Graner was "the primary torturer".
Three soldiers in Spc Graner's unit had testified on Monday about Graner's key role in stacking naked prisoners into a pyramid, putting a leash on a prisoner and other abuses in the highest security area of the prison just outside Baghdad.
Al-Sheikh, who was was well known in Abu Ghraib for having once obtained a gun from an Iraqi guard and exchanged fire with American soldiers, appeared wary in his testimony.
"That Graner guy is a man who hurt his country, hurt his people and I think he will receive his punishment," he said. He said Graner forced him to eat pork and drink alcohol, practices against his Islamic religion.
Spc Graner and Pte Lynndie England, with whom he fathered a child and who is also facing a court-martial, became the faces of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal after they appeared smiling in photographs which showed degraded, naked prisoners.
The pictures further eroded the credibility of the United States, already damaged in many countries by the Iraq invasion.
Military prosecutors have presented evidence not seen before in public from Abu Ghraib, including a video of forced group masturbation and a picture of a woman prisoner ordered to show her breasts.
Two investigators testified yesterday that they had identified prisoners shown in the abuse pictures as common criminals arrested on charges including robbery, assault and prostitution.
Spc Graner's lawyer, Mr Guy Womack, has argued that his client was only following orders to soften up prisoners for military intelligence agents.
He also said activities such as making human pyramids with naked hooded prisoners were acceptable.
Spc Graner faces a possible sentence of 17½ years.