In brief
CACI, the Virginia-based military contractor, is appealing a court decision that awarded $42 million to three former detainees who alleged torture during their detention at Abu Ghraib. The plaintiffs claimed that CACI's personnel conspired with military police to facilitate their abuse, leading to a jury's verdict mandating the significant financial penalty. Although no CACI interrogators faced criminal charges, military investigations indicated they engaged in misconduct.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday regarding an appeal from CACI, a military contractor, which has been ordered to pay $42 million for its alleged involvement in the torture of three former detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.CACI, based in Reston, Virginia, contested last year’s verdict from a civil lawsuit at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs—Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili, and Asa’ad Al-Zubae—testified in the trial that they endured severe mistreatment, including beatings, sexual abuse, and forced nudity during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.Despite the jury awarding each plaintiff $3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, the trio did not specifically accuse CACI interrogators of inflicting the abuse. Instead, they argued that CACI was complicit by conspiring with military police to apply extreme treatment to ‘soften up’ detainees for interrogation.CACI supplied the interrogators at Abu Ghraib and has firmly denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that none of its employees are alleged to have directly inflicted abuse on the plaintiffs.The photos released in 2004 depicting the abuse shocked the world and included disturbing images of naked prisoners stacked in pyramids and soldiers posing next to corpses. While military police were convicted for their roles in the abuses, no civilian CACI personnel faced criminal charges, despite military investigations revealing misconduct among them.The $42 million award matches the amount requested by the detainees and surpasses the $31 million CACI received for providing interrogation services at the prison.
