Iraqi Sues for Alleged Abu Ghraib Torture
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LOS ANGELES — An Iraqi man sued two American military contractors yesterday, claiming he was tortured repeatedly while being held at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for more than 10 months.
Emad al-Janabi’s federal lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, claims that employees of CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. punched him, slammed him into walls, hung him from a bed frame, and kept him naked and handcuffed in his cell beginning in September 2003.
Also named as a defendant is CACI interrogator Steven Stefanowicz, known as “Big Steve.” The suit claims he directed some of the torture tactics.
CACI and L-3 were accused of abusing Abu Ghraib prisoners in earlier lawsuits. In November a federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed the suit against L-3 but allowed the one against CACI to proceed.
In an interview with the Associated Press yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey, Mr. Janabi said he hopes the lawsuit sheds light on what happened to him and other detainees.
