Key figure in Iraq prisoner abuse found guilty

US Army reservist Charles Graner, said to be the ringleader of a band of rogue guards at Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison…

US Army reservist Charles Graner, said to be the ringleader of a band of rogue guards at Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, is facing up to 15 and a half years behind bars today after being found guilty of abusing Iraqi detainees.

Specialist Charles Graner, 36, said he planned to address the 10 jurors before they deliver their sentence, which could put him behind bars for up to 15 years.

The case sparked international outrage when photographs were released that showed reservists gleefully abusing prisoners. Graner the first soldier to be tried on charges arising from the scandal, was convicted last night of all five charges.

Graner stood at attention and looked straight ahead without expression as each verdict was read at Fort Hood, Texas. His parents, Charles and Irma Graner, held hands tightly as they listened.

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The jury took less than five hours to reach the verdict and is to begin the sentencing phase in the next few hours. Both prosecutors and the defence are permitted to put on witnesses during a sentencing hearing. Graner can also testify, which he declined to do during the trial.

The verdict came after a four and a half-day trial in which prosecutors depicted Graner as a sadistic soldier who took great pleasure in seeing detainees suffer. He was accused of stacking naked prisoners in a human pyramid and later ordering them to masturbate while other soldiers took photographs.

He also allegedly punched one man in the head hard enough to knock him out, and struck an injured prisoner with a collapsible metal stick.

The jury of four US Army officers and six senior enlisted men rejected the defence argument that Graner and other guards were merely following orders from intelligence agents at Abu Ghraib when they roughed up the detainees.

Graner, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, faced 10 counts under five separate charges: Assault; conspiracy; maltreatment of detainees; committing indecent acts; and dereliction of duty.

He was found guilty on all counts, except that one assault count was downgraded to battery. Each count required at least seven of the 10 jurors to agree for conviction.

In his closing argument last night, Capt Chris Graveline, one of the prosecutors, recounted the abuse allegations, buttressing many with photos and video taken inside the prison in October and November 2003. "It was for sport, for laughs," Cpt Graveline told jurors.

"What we have here is plain abuse. There is no justification." One witness, Syrian prisoner Mr Amin al-Sheikh, had characterised Graner as the "primary torturer", who whistled, sang and laughed while brutalising him and forced him to eat pork and drink alcohol against his Muslim faith.