Meet the former governor of Abu Ghraib prison, Janis Karpinski.
Rumsfeld faces lawsuit for alleged war crimes in Iraq
The former head of Abu Ghraib jail today gave a graphic account of conditions in the US detention centre as part of an attempt to put Donald Rumsfeld in the dock for allegedly aiding and abetting war crimes in Iraq.
Mr Rumsfeld has become a prime target for international human rights activists since resigning last week from his post as defence secretary - his immunity from prosecution will soon lapse and, under German law, a non-German can be prosecuted for war crimes committed outside Germany.
The 300-page case for a criminal prosecution of the controversial US politician was presented today to the German federal prosecutor, Monika Harms, by the American and German lawyers representing 11 former Iraqi detainees of the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and one former inmate of the US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay. As a result, Germany is preparing for a major new broadside against US policy in Iraq.
“These crimes were planned and executed at the highest levels of the US government,” said Michael Ratner, president of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is leading the campaign for a Rumsfeld prosecution.
The star witness against Mr Rumsfeld is the former governor of Abu Ghraib prison, Janis Karpinski. “When I arrived in 2003, the prison held under 500 Iraqis, but, within a month, after a visit by military intelligence, that number had jumped to 3,000,” said Mrs Karpinski.
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