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The jury took less than five hours to reach the verdict and the sentencing phase began Friday evening. Iraqi detainee Hussein Mutar, in videotaped testimony shown during the sentencing phase, said he had supported the U.S.-led invasion to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein until he was abused. "The Americans came to free the Iraqi people from Saddam," Mutar said. "I didn't expect this to happen. This instance changed the entire picture of the American people (for me)." Both prosecutors and the defence are permitted to summon witnesses during a sentencing hearing. Graner can also testify, which he declined to do during the trial.. The verdict came after a 4½-day trial in which prosecutors depicted Graner as a sadistic soldier who took great pleasure in seeing detainees suffer. He was accused of stacking naked prisoners in a human pyramid and later ordering them to masturbate while other soldiers took photographs. He also allegedly punched one man in the head hard enough to knock him out, and struck an injured prisoner with a collapsible metal stick. The jury of four army officers and six senior enlisted men rejected the defence argument that Graner and other guards were merely following orders from intelligence agents at Abu Ghraib when they roughed up the detainees. Graner, a 36-year-old reservist from Uniontown, Pa., faced 10 counts under five separate charges: Assault, conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees, committing indecent acts and dereliction of duty. He was found guilty on all counts, except one assault count was downgraded to battery. Each count required at least seven of the 10 jurors to agree for conviction. In his closing argument Friday, Capt. Chris Graveline, one of the prosecutors, recounted the abuse allegations, buttressing many with photos and video taken inside the prison in October and November 2003. "It was for sport, for laughs," Graveline told jurors. "What we have here is plain abuse. There is no justification." One witness, Syrian prisoner Amin al-Sheikh, characterized Graner as the "primary torturer," who merrily whistled, sang and laughed while brutalizing him and forced him to eat pork and drink alcohol in violation of his Muslim faith. An Mutar told the court he was among a group of prisoners stripped by Graner and other Abu Ghraib guards, stacked up naked in a human pyramid while female soldiers watched and later told to masturbate. "I couldn't imagine it in the beginning," Hussein Mutar testified.
"I could kill myself because no one over there was stopping it from happening." Graner's lawyer, Guy Womack, contended his client and other Abu Ghraib guards were under extreme pressure from U.S. intelligence agents to use physical violence to prepare detainees for questioning. "It was a persistent, consistent set of orders," Womack said in his closing argument. "To soften up the detainees, to do things so we can interrogate them successfully in support of our mission...We had men and women being killed." Womack described the notorious photos taken inside the prison as "gallows humour" arising from unrelenting stress felt by the Abu Ghraib guards. He reminded jurors Saddam was not yet in U.S. custody when the alleged abuse happened. "There was somebody very important on everybody's mind," Womack said. "Wouldn't it be logical to have your interrogators use pressure to get information to try to find him?" He also tried to plant the seed that Graner and the other low-level guards were being used in a cover-up to protect army officers once those photos went public.
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The shocking photos of reservists abusing and sexually humiliating prisoners were first broadcast in April 2004. The photos showed naked detainees posed in sexual positions, hooked to electrodes and tethered to a leash. A month later, President George W. Bush urged U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to make sure any guilty U.S. soldiers were punished for "shameful and appalling acts." Many critics called for Rumsfeld to step down in the aftermath of the scandal. Graner did not testify during the trial, which included testimony from three guards who had made plea deals with prosecutors. Graner's demeanour at the beginning of the trial was upbeat, telling reporters at one point: "Whatever happens is going to happen but I still feel it's going to be on the positive side and I'm going to have a smile on my face." As the trial wore on, his expressions grew more stoic. Two other guards from the 372nd Military Police Company, a reserve unit from Cresaptown, Md., are awaiting trial, along with Pte. First Class Lynndie England, a clerk at Abu Ghraib who last fall gave birth to a baby believed to be fathered by Graner.
Ariel Sharon cuts
contact with Palestinians after the Gaza attack
JERUSALEM- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has severed contacts with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas until he acts against militants, a spokesman said Friday, a day after six Israelis were killed in an attack on a Gaza Strip crossing. The Israeli leadership had initially said it would not retaliate for the Gaza attack and would give Abbas time to rein in the militants. "Israel informed international leaders today that there will be no meetings with Abbas until he makes a real effort to stop the terror," Sharon spokesman Assaf Shariv said. Shariv said Israel made the decision because the attack on the Gaza crossing was launched from a Palestinian Authority base. Earlier Friday, Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip. Thursday night's bombing-shooting attack at the Karni crossing, Gaza's main lifeline, marked the militants' first major challenge to Abbas, who has spoken out against violence and said he would try to negotiate a truce. Three Palestinian gunmen were killed in the attack, and three armed groups claimed responsibility, including Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has ties to Abbas's ruling Fatah movement. Abbas said both the Karni attack and Israeli military operations in recent days "do not benefit the peace process." An Israeli-Arab legislator who met Abbas on Friday said the Palestinian leader remains committed to persuading the armed groups to halt attacks. However, the lawmaker, Taleb Al Sana told Israel Army Radio that Abbas was upset with Israel for holding him responsible for attacks before he has even been sworn in as Palestinian leader. Israel and the United States had said they would judge Abbas by his actions. Abbas, who was elected to replace the late Yasser Arafat, is to be inaugurated Saturday. In response to the attack, Israel closed the Karni and Erez crossings, leaving Gaza largely isolated. Goods flow in and out of the fenced-in coastal strip through Karni, and the Erez crossing is used by journalists, diplomats and some Palestinian workers with jobs in Israel.The Israeli military had eased checking at Karni in recent weeks. A third major Gaza crossing near the southern town of Rafah, used by Palestinian travellers, was closed last month after an attack there killed five Israeli soldiers. The closures renewed hardships for Palestinians just a week before a major Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, a time for shopping and family visits. Many Palestinians, exhausted after more than four years of fighting, grumbled about the militants targeting crossings. Abbas has said he will not use force against militants. Instead, he is expected to try to co-opt them by asking Al Aqsa gunmen, many of them former policemen, to return to their jobs, and by offering Hamas a say in decision-making. The Islamic militant group also has said it would participate in legislative elections in July. In coming weeks, Abbas is to conduct Egyptian-brokered talks with the militants in Gaza and in Cairo. Egypt has renewed a proposal for a one-year suspension of attacks, according to a senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the attack Thursday, just before 11 p.m., militants detonated dozens of kilograms of explosives in a truck, blowing out a large hole in a door in a security wall at the crossing, said Israeli Brig.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, commander in the Gaza division. Israel intends to pull out of Gaza in the summer.
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