FORT HOOD (USA), May 2: Reservist Lynndie England of the US, pictured holding an Iraqi on a leash in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, pleaded guilty to seven charges of abuse on Monday but the judge did not immediately accept her plea. Pfc. England, who appeared in photographs that touched off an international furore at a time when the United States was under pressure over the Iraq invasion, pleaded guilty to charges that can carry a maximum sentence of 11 years.

The judge at her military trial, Col James Pohl, called a break in the proceedings to consider whether to accept her plea, prompted by remarks in court in which she said she did not believe at the time that her actions were wrong.

The plea had been worked out with prosecutors, who had dropped two of the charges as part of a deal. The charges she admitted to could bring her 11 years in prison, but her lawyer hoped for a much shorter punishment.

Questioned by judge Pohl about the incident portrayed in the leash picture, Lynndie England, 22, said she had visited that section of the sprawling prison to see Sgt. Charles Graner, with whom she was involved sexually.

“(Graner) handed me the leash and said hold this, I’m going to take a picture,” the diminutive soldier said. “He wanted it to look more ... humiliating if a female of my size would hold it.”

She added: “I assumed it was OK because he was an MP (military policeman). He had the background as a corrections officer and with him being older than me I thought he knew what he was doing.”

Charles Graner, a former prison office by whom Lynndie England has since had a child, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a military tribunal in January for his part in the abuse. He is expected to testify this week in Ms England’s sentencing hearing.—Reuters