A US army platoon leader accused of ordering soldiers to force two Iraqis into the Tigris River at gunpoint was to face a court-martial today.

US Army reservist Charles Graner, the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at Baghdad’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted tonight of abusing Iraqi detainees.

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.

A Syrian inmate at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison told a court martial today that US army Specialist Charles Graner was the primary torturer who laughed while physically abusing him and threatened to kill him more than once.