Harman guilty on 6 Abu Ghraib abuse counts
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-17 15:56

The military jury that convicted Spc. Sabrina Harman of taking part in detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison now must decide how harshly to punish her.

Harman, 27, was found guilty late Monday on six of the seven charges she faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi inmates in late 2003.

A hearing to determine her sentence was set to begin Tuesday morning. She faces up to 5 1/2 years in prison.

Sabrina Harman, pictured arriving for the first day of her court-martial 11 May, the US military policewoman behind some of the most ghastly photographs from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison was found guilty of severely abusing inmates and failing to carry out her army duties, a spokesman for the military said. [AFP]

She was acquitted of allegedly photographing a group of Iraqi prisoners forced to masturbate in public by Abu Ghraib guards. One of Harman's co-defendants testified last week that she was not present when that incident occurred.

The Army reservist showed no reaction when the verdicts were read. She left the Fort Hood courthouse without speaking to reporters.

Harman, a former pizza shop manager from Lorton, Va., appeared in several of the most notorious photos taken at Abu Ghraib, and she was found guilty of taking other pictures.

The photos showed prisoners chained together in sexual poses, piled on the floor naked and forced to form a nude human pyramid.

In one picture, Harman posed with Graner behind a group of naked detainees. In another, she was shown with a prisoner on whose leg she is accused of writing "rapeist."

In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors said Harman and other guards conspired to physically hurt and sexually humiliate the prisoners under their watch.

"They were all acting together for their own amusement," Capt. Chris Graveline said. "There was no justification for what they did that night."

Graveline said the group took pictures of what they were doing "so they could remember that night, so they could laugh again at these men. ... There's nothing funny about what happened at Abu Ghraib."

Defense lawyer Frank Spinner said Harman was a novice soldier who received virtually no training before going to work at the chaotic and overcrowded prison as part of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company.

"Shame on the Army for putting an ill-equipped, ill-trained junior specialist in a position where she had to challenge her (enlisted) leadership to do the right thing," he said. "This is not one of the Army's finest moments."

The final witness was Kelly Bryant, Harman's roommate in Virginia, who read part of a letter Harman wrote home in late October 2003.

In the letter, Harman said she took pictures of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib because she was opposed to the treatment and wanted to document the wrongdoing.

"At first I thought it was funny, but these people are going too far," Harman wrote. "Kelly, it's awful. I thought I could handle anything, but I was wrong."

Harman wrote that her initial amusement at how detainees were sexually mistreated gave way to the realization that her fellow soldiers were engaged in illegal activity.

"It hit me it was a form of molestation — you can't do that," she wrote. "What if that was me in their shoes?"

Six co-defendants have made plea bargains. The reputed ringleader, Pvt. Charles Graner Jr., was convicted in January and is now serving a 10-year sentence in an Army prison.

Pfc. Lynndie England, the most recognizable Abu Ghraib defendant, also reached a plea deal, but it was thrown out after Graner's testimony contradicted England's assertion that she knew her actions were wrong.

Also on Monday, the Army soldier who blew the whistle on the scandal received an award that recognizes acts of political courage.

Spc. Joseph Darby received a special John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award at a ceremony in Boston. Darby was the first to report the prisoner abuse, turning over photos to officials.

The award is named after President Kennedy's 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book.