Abu Ghraib charges officer faces court

The only officer charged with crimes in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal appeared in court today to face eight military charges including cruelty and maltreatment of detainees.

Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Jordan, a 50-year-old reservist from northern Virginia, chose not to enter a plea to the charges, which carry potential prison terms of up to 22 years.

He was appearing in court at Fort McNair in Washington.

Jordan also deferred his decision whether to be tried by a judge or by a jury of at least five fellow officers, all of equal or greater rank than himself.

The judge Stephen Henley set a hearing for next Tuesday on a defence motion to dismiss the charges for lack of a speedy trial.

Jordan was charged on April 28 last year.

Abu Ghraib is a prison in Baghdad where photographs taken by guards showed mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. They were published in 2004.

Jordan was at Abu Ghraib in the autumn of 2003, when detainees were stripped naked, sexually humiliated, beaten and set upon by dogs.