US jury awards former Abu Ghraib detainees 42 million dollars

Former detainee at Abu Ghraib prison, Salah Al-Ejaili, foreground with glasses, at the trial of CACI (Dana Verkouteren/AP)

A US jury on Tuesday awarded 42 million dollars (£33 million) to three former detainees of Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a military contractor responsible for contributing to their torture and mistreatment two decades ago.

The decision of the eight-person jury came after a different jury earlier this year could not agree on whether Virginia-based CACI should be held liable for the work of its civilian interrogators, who worked alongside the US army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004.