A federal jury in Virginia on Tuesday ordered a US defense contractor to pay $42 million (€40 million) in damages to three Iraqi men tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003-2004. 

The eight-person jury found CACI Premier Technology liable in the case for its role in the torture of detainees as the US carried out its war on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and then later in Iraq.

Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asaad Al-Zubae were each awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages.

Contractor says US government to blame

Beyond claiming no contractors had contact with the defendants while at Abu Ghraib, lawyers for Virginia-based CACI argued the company was not responsible for their behavior as they were operating alongside US army personnel under a legal principle known as the "borrowed servants" doctrine.

All three Iraqis testified that they were physically and psychologically tortured; suffering beatings, sexual abuse, electroshocks, threatened with dogs as they stood naked and hooded, forced into stress positions, among other abuses. 

"Today was a big day for me and for justice," said Salah Al-Ejaili. The journalist released a written statement saying: "I've waited a long time for this day. This victory isn't only for the three plaintiffs in this case against a corporation. This victory is a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture and abuse."               

Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights — the organization that filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs' behalf — called the verdict "an important measure of justice and accountability."

Azmy praised the plaintiffs for their resilience, "especially in the face of all the obstacles CACI threw their way."

The lawsuit was first filed in 2008, but a verdict took 15 years as the result of CACI's legal motions and multiple attempts to have the case dismissed.

js/sms (AFP, AP)