A military jury is continuing deliberations today in the court martial of a US Army dog handler accused of abusing detainees at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison.

Prosecutors in Private Lynndie England’s prison abuse case portrayed her in closing arguments today as an eager participant with a “sick” sense of humour, while defence lawyers described her as a weak-minded pawn trying to appease a sadistic boyfriend.

A military jury convicted US army reservist Sabrina Harman early today on all but one of the seven charges she faced for her role in abuses at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

Defence lawyers appealed for leniency for Private Lynndie England at a hearing to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, saying the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech-impaired and had trouble learning to read.

The accused mastermind of the Abu Ghraib prison torture beat up and humiliated Iraqi detainees simply for the fun of it, military prosecutors claimed today as his court martial drew to a close.