Appeals court hears from U.S. military contractor ordered to pay US$42M to former Abu Ghraib detainees

This artist sketch depicts Salah Al-Ejaili, foreground right with glasses, a former Al-Jazeera journalist, before the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., April 16, 2024. (Dana Verkouteren via AP, File)

RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal appeals court heard oral arguments Tuesday about an appeal from a U.S. military contractor ordered to pay US$42 million for contributing to the torture and mistreatment of three former detainees at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago.

Reston, Virginia-based CACI appealed last year’s civil lawsuit verdict to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeal before the three-judge panel centers on whether the lower court had proper jurisdiction.

Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’ad Al-Zubae testified at last year’s trial that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the prison during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. A jury awarded them $3 million each in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages.

The three did not allege that CACI’s interrogators explicitly inflicted the abuse themselves, but argued CACI was complicit because its interrogators conspired with military police to “soften up” detainees for questioning with harsh treatment.

CACI supplied the interrogators who worked at the prison. It has denied any wrongdoing and has emphasized throughout 17 years of litigation that its employees are not alleged to have inflicted any abuse on the plaintiffs in the case.

Photos of the abuse released in 2004 showed naked prisoners stacked into pyramids or dragged by leashes. Photos included a soldier smiling and giving a thumbs-up while posing next to a corpse, detainees being threatened with dogs, and a detainee hooded and attached to electrical wires.

Military police seen in the photos smiling and laughing as they directed the abuse were convicted in military courts-martial. But none of the civilian interrogators from CACI ever faced criminal charges, even though military investigations concluded that several CACI interrogators had engaged in wrongdoing.

Last year’s civil trial and subsequent retrial were the first time a U.S. jury heard claims brought by Abu Ghraib detainees in the 20 years since the photos shocked the world.

None of the three plaintiffs were in any of photos but they described treatment very similar to what was depicted.

The $42 million they were awarded fully matches the amount sought by the plaintiffs. It’s also more than the $31 million that the plaintiffs said CACI was paid to supply interrogators to Abu Ghraib.