U.S. Army to court-martial Abu Ghraib officer



January 27, 2007

U.S. Lt. Col. Steven Lee Jordan will be tried by a military court for his involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case, the U.S. Army announced yesterday. Jordan will stand trial on eight counts. The charges include cruelty, maltreatment of prisoners, disobeying a superior officer, willful dereliction of duty and making false statements. Jordan is the only U.S. officer charged in the Abu Ghraib case -eleven soldiers were previously sentenced up to 10 years in prison.

50-year-old Jordan, a reservist from Virginia, ran the interrogation center in Abu Ghraib, the notorious prison just outside of Baghdad. Under his command, soldiers photographed naked prisoners in demeaning poses. The officer himself was not present in any of the pictures. Jordan faces a maximum sentence of 22 years for the eight charges combined.

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 * An overview can be found on the "Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse affair" portal.