|
New sex charges against U.S. soldier in Iraq
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-10 08:52
U.S. military prosecutors have lodged new sex charges against a female
soldier photographed holding an Iraqi prisoner on a leash in an abuse scandal
that rattled the U.S. war effort in Iraq, officials said on Friday.
U.S. military prosecutors have lodged new sex
charges against Pfc. Lynndie England, the female soldier photographed
holding an Iraqi prisoner on a leash in an abuse scandal that rattled the
U.S. war effort in Iraq, officials said on July 9, 2004. The new charges
against England were unrelated to mistreatment of Iraqis, the officials
said. England became pregnant in Iraq and media reports have said the
father is one of her superiors, Sgt. Charles Graner, who also has been
charged in the abuse scandal. England is seen in this 2001 senior portrait
from Frankfort High School in Short Gap, West Virginia.
[Reuters] | The new charges against Pfc. Lynndie
England, who faces a host of charges for allegedly abusing detainees at Abu
Ghraib prison near Baghdad, were unrelated to mistreatment of Iraqis, the
officials said.
A statement issued in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, said she was charged late
on Thursday with violating a rule that prohibits creation and possession of
sexually explicit photographs and with four counts of indecent acts.
England had been due to face a military court in Fort Bragg on Monday, but
her lawyers requested a delay, a military spokesman said.
England became pregnant in Iraq and media reports have said the father is one
of her superiors, Sgt. Charles Graner, who also has been charged in the abuse
scandal.
Monday's hearing is the first stage of legal proceedings, known as an Article
32 investigation, to decide whether England should face trial.
The original charges state that she conspired to mistreat Iraqi prisoners,
assaulted prisoners on at least three occasions, committed acts prejudicial to
good order and committed an indecent act.
England, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company, was charged along
with six other U.S. military police reservists with abusing prisoners at Abu
Ghraib. One soldier has been sentenced to a year in prison after admitting abuse
charges.
Lawyers for some of the accused MPs have said intelligence officers ordered
the soldiers to "soften up" prisoners for questioning. The Pentagon has denied
accusations it sanctioned rough treatment to make people talk.
"OBEYEING ORDERS"
England has said she was obeying orders when she was photographed in gleeful
poses with humiliated prisoners at Abu Ghraib. In one of the pictures, taken in
late 2003, she pointed at the genitals of a hooded, naked man, a cigarette
dangling from her lips.
The photographs were made public in April and prompted worldwide protest
against the U.S. treatment of war prisoners, damaging U.S. efforts to stabilize
Iraq.
President Bush and other U.S. officials apologized but put the blame on a
small group of soldiers. The alleged abuse took place as U.S. forces pressed
prisoners for information to halt a bloody insurgency.
The legal proceeding at Fort Bragg on Monday is known as an Article 32
investigation. A hearing officer will decide whether England should face trial.
The U.S. military statement on Friday offered no details about the new
charges and officials were not immediately available for comment.
England's lawyers, who have called their client a "poster child" for the Bush
administration's flawed Iraq war policies, will be able to call witnesses. But
Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will not be
among them.
"They are not on the (witness) list. We requested it but they were denied,"
Lori Hernandez, a member of England's legal team, told Reuters this week.
Pictures taken at Abu Ghraib showed U.S. soldiers piling naked Iraqis into a
pyramid and threatening them with dogs. In one, a hooded prisoner has electrical
wires attached to his body.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
