FORT HOOD (Texas), May 17: A military jury has found army reservist Sabrina Harman guilty of mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in a scandal that badly damaged America’s image worldwide. Harman, 27, appeared in some of the most notorious Abu Ghraib prison photographs, including one in which she posed with a pyramid of naked detainees.
The jury found her guilty on Monday of one count of conspiracy related to that incident beamed across the world a year ago. The court will begin the penalty phase of her trial on Tuesday. In only the second Abu Ghraib case to go to trial, the military panel also found Harman placed wires on a hooded Iraqi and warned him he would be electrocuted if he stepped off a box — one of five maltreatment charges she faced.
She was found guilty on that charge even though Ivan Frederick, another soldier already convicted of Abu Ghraib abuses, testified last week he placed the wires. The incident at the prison outside Baghdad became a symbol of American arrogance following the Bush administration’s decision to go to war in Iraq. A former pizza restaurant worker, Harman pleaded innocent last week and could face a maximum of 5 1/2 years in prison.—Reuters
