MANNHEIM, Aug 24: A US prosecutor acknowledged on Tuesday that charges were being prepared against senior US military intelligence officials and other staff over abuses committed against inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
As the legal net widened to include up to 28 suspects, one of seven military police officials already accused over the scandal said he had reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to some of the charges.
Details of the new suspects came as a US military prosecutor, Major Michael Holly, tried to stop immunity being granted to a number of intelligence officers over fears it would compromise the case being built against them.
Holly referred in particular to Colonel Thomas Pappas, who was in charge of the military intelligence unit that worked at Abu Ghraib, outside Baghdad, and the man responsible for interrogation there, Lt Col Steven Jordan.
"We are still trying to identify the culpability of Colonel Jordan and Colonel Pappas," Michael Holly told a pre-trial hearing in Mannheim, southern Germany, the first legal step in court martial proceedings against four of the seven.
"You are telling me that there is thought to criminally prosecute these individuals and that, as such, they should be given immunity," mused James Pohl, the US military judge presiding over the two days of hearings.
Major Holly also said that two lower ranking military intelligence personnel, named only as specialists Krol and Cruz, would soon be charged as well. The humiliation at Abu Ghraib, where Iraqi detainees are frequently held for months without charge, caused outrage worldwide when photographs taken by some of the guards accused were published by the media.
The images depicted guards haranguing inmates, sitting on them, leading them on leashes and harassing them with fierce dogs and, in one case, showed a hooded prisoner with electrodes attached to his body.
Major Holly affirmed that a vast new report into the scandal, compiled by Major General George Fay, would be published by Sept 10 and he asked the judge to wait for it before deciding whether to grant the officers immunity.
"The government has to Sept 17 to show cause why I should not grant immunity," said Pohl, a no-nonsense judge leading what has become a highly politicized series of trials.
PLEADS GUILTY: Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick, a suspected ringleader of the abuses, agreed to plead guilty to some of the charges against him in exchange for others being dropped.
"He has accepted, unlike many, the responsibility that was generated by the corruptive procedure at Abu Ghraib," his lawyer, Gary Myers, told reporters as Frederick and his wife stood silently by holding hands.
Ivan Frederick, 37, is charged with cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty, assault and indecent acts. "Some of the initial charges have been dismissed, some will remain," said Gary Myers.
The civilian lawyer seemed bemused that US officials had accused only seven guards over the scandal. "The government now seems to think that 28 people are responsible," he said, without providing further details.
Mr Myer also said Ivan Frederick was concerned for the safety of Steven Darby, the soldier who helped expose the abuses by turning over photographs taken at Abu Ghraib. -AFP