Specialist Sabrina Harman arrives for the first day of her court martial hearing for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at Fort Hood, Texas. Harman pleaded not guilty to seven abuse charges.(AFP/Getty Images/Jana Birchum)
Posted on 05/11/2005 2:29:49 PM PDT by Libloather
US soldier pleads not guilty to Iraq prison abuse charges
44 minutes ago
FORT HOOD, United States (AFP) - A woman soldier accused of writing on the naked bodies of Iraqi inmates at the now notorious Abu Ghraib jail, pleaded not guilty to seven abuse charges at a court martial.
Specialist Sabrina Harman is accused of writing the word "rapeist" (sic) on the leg of an Iraqi prisoner who was then photographed in sexually humiliating poses with other naked detainees.
Harman sat silently during a pretrial hearing as her defense attorneys argued to introduce evidence showing she did not put wires on the hands of a prisoner and then tell him he would be electrocuted if he fell off the box he was standing on.
Her attorneys are also expected to argue that taking pictures of sexually humiliated prisoners did not constitute mistreatment because they were wearing hoods and could not see that she was photographing them.
Harman is the second solider to plead not guilty to abusing detainees at the prison near Baghdad in the winter of 2003.
The abuse pictures were shown around the world and led to widespread condemnation of US practices in Iraq at a time when it was still trying to bring the country under control after the 2003 invasion.
Harman faces a maximum sentence of six and a half years in prison if convicted.
She is charged with one count of conspiracy to mistreat prisoners, one count of dereliction of duty and five counts of mistreatment. She appeared in several photographs of abused prisoners, including one where she grinned over a group of naked detainees who were forced to form a human pyramid.
Five other soldiers pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from a dishonorable discharge to eight years in prison. The only other solider to plead not guilty was alleged ringleader, Charles Graner, who is currently serving a 10-year term and is expected to testify in Harman's defense.
It was Graner's avowal that he was just doing his job when he tied a strap to a naked detainee's neck that led to a mistrial last week in the court-martial of Lynndie England.
England, who became the face of the scandal when the image of her holding the strap was broadcast, had pleaded guilty to conspiring with Garner to mistreat the prisoner.
A number of official US investigations have categorized the abuse as isolated acts by a small group.
But many groups have raised suspicions that the US administration has protected the upper ranks. US rights groups have called for a special prosecutor to look into torture allegations.
The most senior soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib scandal was Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick, who was sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty.
Several other officers received nonjudicial punishment, including Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, commander of the military police unit accused of mistreating prisoners, who was relieved of her command, demoted to colonel and reprimanded.
Ricardo Sanchez, the senior US military commander in Iraq at the time the scandal broke, and three other high-ranking officers were cleared of any wrongdoing by the findings of a US military probe released May 5.
Specialist Sabrina Harman arrives for the first day of her court martial hearing for the abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at Fort Hood, Texas. Harman pleaded not guilty to seven abuse charges.(AFP/Getty Images/Jana Birchum)
Does anyone know if any of the rapists, killers and thieves held at Abu Ghraib have ever been brought up on charges of abuse?
she cant even spell!
I'm not responsible. The devil made me do it. Geez, this denials is what 5 year olds try.
Thats prob the extent of her education..a five year olds.
Lovely picture to be sure. However, think about how much damage this has done across the world. He are constantly having this situation brought up. Don't get me wrong, I don't want these soldiers to go to jail or anything. The prisoners were scum and I don't feel bad for them.
But I sure wish they hadn't done this.
WE are constantly having this brought up. Sorry for the typo.
Naked Twister and panties on the head are hardly what I'd call "abuse". Look at what those animals do to captured civilians and captured soldiers if you want to see what ABUSE really is.
The only reason our soldiers are being persecuted over this is to keep the leftist pigs in the media smug and happy.
BTW, I regard Islamic terrorists to be equal to communists: In embracing a fanatical ideology of enslavement, murder and depravity, they resign their membership in the human race, and should be dispatched with extreme prejudice.
I just wish they would have had the good sense to not take PHOTOGRAPHS of ANYTHING that could possibly construed by the communist media as being "abuse".
I just wish they would have had the good sense to not take PHOTOGRAPHS of ANYTHING that could possibly construed by the communist media as being "abuse".
Oops.
Patience, Draka, patience.
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