A SOLDIER already convicted in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal testified yesterday that fellow Army reservist Private Lynndie England was a willing participant in creating the “human pyramid” of naked Iraqi detainees shown in infamous photographs from Iraq.

One of the US Army reservists charged with abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison admitted at a pre-trial hearing today that he initially lied to a military investigator by saying he did not take part in the maltreatment.

An unscheduled hearing was being held today in the case of a US soldier in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, whose civilian lawyer had said yesterday that he wanted to represent him by telephone.