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The convicted ringleader of detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib was released Saturday from a military prison, an Army spokeswoman said. Charles Graner Jr., 42, was released from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., around 10 a.m. Saturday after serving more than 6 1/2 years of a 10-year sentence, spokeswoman Rebecca Steed said. Graner will be under the supervision of a probation officer until Dec. 25, 2014, she said. Steed said she could not release any information about Graner's whereabouts or his destination after release. Neither Graner nor his wife — who was a fellow Abu Ghraib defendant —...

NEW YORK - The soldier who triggered the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal by sending incriminating photos to military investigators says he feared deadly retaliation by other GIs and was shocked when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld mentioned his name at a Senate hearing. Within days, Joe Darby was spirited out of Iraq at his own request. But his family was besieged by news media, and close relatives called him a traitor. Ultimately he was forced to move away from his hometown in western Maryland. "I had the choice between what I knew was morally right and my loyalty to other...

A key figure in the Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal has given Army investigators a lengthy sworn statement accusing others of misconduct at the Iraq prison. The statement from Pvt. Charles Graner, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., comes as the Army may file more charges in the case against personnel who supervised military police officers such as Pvt. Graner. He had first refused to talk, but later agreed under a grant of immunity. At his court-martial, prosecutors portrayed Pvt. Graner as the ringleader in a group of Reserve MPs who abused and humiliated detainees...

19 Feb 2005 00:29:16 GMT FORT HOOD, Texas, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Military prosecutors have filed new charges that greatly reduce the amount of jail time facing U.S. Army reservist Lynndie England if she is convicted in the abuse scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. A spokesman at Fort Hood in central Texas where England is to be court martialed said on Friday the new charges, nine in all ranging from cruelty to committing indecent acts, would expose her to a maximum of 16 years in prison. They were filed last week, but not made public. Previously, she faced 19...

The conviction of Army Reserve Specialist Charles Graner is hardly the last word on what really happened at Abu Ghraib prison. But the 10-year sentence for the abuse ringleader shows that the military justice system is taking the issue as seriously as it should. And the Army jury that handed it down clearly didn't buy his "just-following-orders" defense. We doubt Specialist Graner's peers would have packed him off to prison for so long had he produced any evidence at all that his actions had something to do with interrogation practices approved by his superiors. Particularly telling was the fact that...

FORT HOOD, Texas - Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted Friday of abusing Iraqi detainees in a case that sparked international outrage when photographs were released that showed reservists gleefully torturing prisoners. Graner, the first soldier to be tried on charges arising from the scandal, was convicted of all five charges and faces up to 17 1/2 years behind bars. The jury took less than five hours to reach the verdict. The verdict came after a five-day trial in which prosecutors depicted Graner as a...

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- The defense for Army Spc. Charles Graner rested its case yesterday without the accused ringleader of abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison taking the stand. The jury of four Army officers and six senior enlisted men was expected to begin deliberating after closing arguments today. Spc. Graner's attorneys had indicated earlier that he probably would be the final witness, and that he would offer his version of what occurred in a scandal that stirred outrage against the United States. But defense attorney Guy Womack said the other witnesses provided all the evidence necessary to make...

FORT HOOD - Army Spc. Charles Graner had a habit of disobeying orders from his military police superiors while serving as a guard at Abu Ghraib prison, according to testimony today from the first witness for the defense. Master Sgt. Brian Lipinski, then the top noncommissioned officer in the 372nd Military Police Company, said under cross-examination that Graner wore his hair too long, altered his uniform in violation of regulations and refused to stay away from Pfc. Lynndie England despite being repeatedly told to do so. "He just didn't like to follow orders," said prosecutor Maj. Michael Holley asked Lipinski....

FORT HOOD -- In his quarter century working in military courts, attorney Guy Womack can count on the fingers of one hand the times he has allowed a client to testify. "My knee-jerk reaction is never to do that," said Womack, an ex-Marine Corps lawyer based in Houston. "I've never regretted not doing that." But he may make an exception to his rule for Spc. Charles Graner Jr., the Army reservist accused of leading the much-publicized abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He says Graner, whose trial begins with opening statements Monday, can explain better than anyone...

The female GI who is at the center of the storm over allegations of mistreatment at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison has told military investigators that she received no specific orders to abuse detainees. A transcript of her May 5 military interview obtained by the New York Times shows England was asked, "Did anyone ever give specific orders of how to 'break' detainees?" "No," England answered point blank. Instead she told probers that military intelligence merely encouraged them to keep doing whatever they were doing to soften prisoners up - "that we were doing a good job." If true, England's admission...

<p>May 14, 2004 -- Iraq's feared Abu Ghraib jail was one big sex romp - sometimes by candlelight with an audience watching, U.S. troops said yesterday. Sex and alcohol were commonplace, and soldiers frequently set up candlelit rooms for voyeuristic sex shows, said a soldier who served at the notorious prison.</p>

A corrections officer at the State Correctional Institution at Greene is reportedly one of the seven U.S. Army reservists facing court-martial for allegedly abusing Iraqi prisoners.Cpl. Charles A. Graner Jr. is facing prosecution in Iraq on charges that include conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty toward prisoners, maltreatment, assault and indecent acts, according to the Washington Post. The Washington Post reported that the soldiers who are facing charges include Graner, Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, Spec. Megan M. Ambuhl, Sgt. Javal S. Davis, Spec. Sabrina D. Harman and Spec. Jeremy C. Sivits. The seventh suspect, Private Lynndie England, was reassigned to...