Former Iraqi detainees sue U.S. military contractors

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Four Iraqi men are suing U.S. militarycontractors who they say tortured them while they were detainedin Abu Ghraib prison, according to lawsuits being filed at U.S.federal courts on Monday.

The lawsuits allege the contractors committed violations ofU.S. law, including torture, war crimes and civil conspiracy.

The scandal over the treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraibunleashed a wave of global condemnation against the UnitedStates when images of abused prisoners surfaced in 2004.

The four plaintiffs, all later released without charge,described their experiences to Reuters on Monday at an Istanbulhotel, where they periodically meet their U.S. legal team. Theygave accounts of beatings, electric shocks and mock executions.

The lawsuits named CACI International Inc, CACI PremierTechnology, L-3 Services Inc and three individual contractors.

The first suit was filed on Monday in Seattle, Washington,and the others were being filed in Maryland, Ohio and Michigan,where the contractors reside.

CACI provided interrogators at Abu Ghraib and L-3 providedtranslators at the prison.

CACI International said the charges in the lawsuits were"unfounded and unsubstantiated".

"These latest lawsuits only repeat baseless allegationsabout CACI that appeared more than four years ago," it said inan e-mailed statement. "These generic allegations of abuse,coupled with imaginary claims of conspiracy, remain unconnectedto any CACI personnel."

An L-3 Communications Holdings Inc spokeswoman had noimmediate comment.

Farmer Suhail Naim Abdullah Al-Shimari, 49, told Reuters hewas caged, beaten, threatened with dogs and given electricshocks during more than four years in detention. He wasreleased in March without being charged and without anyjudicial process.

"I lost my house, my family were made homeless and leftwithout a breadwinner. I lost four-and-a-half years of my lifeand all they did was say sorry," he told Reuters.

Some lower-ranking soldiers have been convicted in militarycourts in connection with the physical abuse and sexualhumiliation of Abu Ghraib detainees.

The latest lawsuits follow a similar one launched in May infederal court in Los Angeles by another former Abu Ghraibdetainee, Emad Al-Janabi. The latest plaintiffs soughtunspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

"This litigation will contribute to the true history of AbuGhraib. These innocent men were senselessly tortured by U.S.companies that profited from their misery," said Susan L.Burke, one of the attorneys representing the detainees.

Sa'adoon Ali Hameed Al-Ogaidi, a 36-year-old shopkeeper andfather of four, described being caged, abused and paraded nakedas one of the unregistered "ghost" detainees, hidden for a timefrom the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"In our Arab culture being stripped naked is one of theworst rights violations. It made me feel ashamed and it hasleft a deep scar in me," he told Reuters.

"What I want is for the perpetrators to be brought tojustice and punished for what they have done," he said.

According to the complaints, the contractors participatedin physical and mental abuse of the detainees, destroyeddocuments, prevented the reporting of torture and misledofficials about the state of affairs at the prisons in Iraq.

(Editing by Stephen Weeks)