HAGERSTOWN, Jan 27: The only US military officer charged with a crime in the Abu Ghraib scandal will be court-martialled on eight charges, including cruelty and maltreatment of prisoners, the Army said.

Lt-Col Steven Lee Jordan, a 50-year-old reservist from Virginia who ran the interrogation centre at the Iraqi prison, was accused of failing to exert his authority as the place descended into chaos, with prisoners stripped naked, photographed in humiliating poses and intimidated by snarling dogs. He was also charged with lying to investigators.He has not been accused of personally torturing or humiliating prisoners, and was not pictured in any of the photos that embarrassed the Pentagon and shocked the Muslim world.

Maj-Gen Guy C. Swann, commander of the Military District of Washington, decided Jordan must stand trial, Army spokesman Col. Jim Yonts told The Associated Press on Friday.

Jordan was charged in April with 12 offences. Swann dismissed four of them after Jordan was given an Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a civilian preliminary hearing, in October. Most of the dropped charges stemmed from allegations that Jordan had falsified vehicle repair records.Besides cruelty and maltreatment, the charges include disobeying a superior officer, wilful dereliction of duty and making false statements. The remaining charges carry a total maximum prison term of 22 years.

Jordan’s military lawyers did not immediately return calls for comment.

The move is “certainly a very welcome development on the road toward accountability for what happened at Abu Ghraib”, said Hina Shamsi, deputy director of the law and security programME at Human Rights First, a New York-based civil rights advocacy group.

“We’re actually starting to hold more senior-level officers accountable for what were clearly systemic failures to ensure that lawful interrogation techniques were used and to ensure that subordinates were acting in accordance with established doctrine and laws,” she said.

At his October hearing, Jordan said he had no operational control over interrogations and spent much of his time trying to improve soldiers’ deplorable living conditions.—AP