A US Army specialist goes on trial tomorrow accused of abusing inmates at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison – the first military intelligence soldier to be prosecuted in the scandal that has so far focused on a handful of prison guard reservists.

The US military judge hearing charges of prisoner abuse at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison today rejected a defence request for Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld to submit to an interview, but said he would reconsider if the defence could show a Rumsfeld link to the case.