AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

A federal jury in Virginia has ordered the U.S. military contractor CACI to pay $42 million to three Iraqi men who were tortured at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The landmark verdict came after 16 years of litigation, the first time a civilian contractor has been found legally responsible for the gruesome abuses at Abu Ghraib, which included murder, sexual assault, rape, the use of attack dogs, sleep deprivation, prolonged isolation, dietary manipulation, induced hypothermia, mock executions and the humiliation of prisoners.

We’re joined right now by Baher Azmy, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the Abu Ghraib plaintiffs.

In these last few minutes we have, Baher, talk about what actually this lawsuit has been about and who wins this multimillion-dollar settlement.

BAHER AZMY: Yeah, this lawsuit has been about justice and accountability for three Iraqi men — our clients, Salah, Suhail and Asa’ad — who exhibited, I think, just awe-inspiring courage and resilience to fight for 16 years and get over every innumerable hurdle CACI threw in its way to deflect responsibility, to have their voice heard by a jury. And as you said, it’s also the first time a jury has ever had really the opportunity to review and judge U.S. practices, in this case by a private military contractor, in the 20 years since 9/11 and despite the horrific number of abuses inflicted on many, many dozens of other torture victims.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, Blackwater is a military contractor, very well known. Explain what CACI, or now known as CACI, did.

BAHER AZMY: Yeah, so —

AMY GOODMAN: And when was it?

BAHER AZMY: In 2003, CACI was hired by the United States government under a lucrative contractor to provide, quote, “expert interrogators” in Abu Ghraib. And they sent a number of highly unqualified individuals. The two qualified people who were there actually were whistleblowers and told CACI that they were seeing abuses there and needed to leave.

And then, as it turned out, in the kind of command vacuum that persisted in Abu Ghraib, it was the CACI interrogators who took control and ordered military police, including military police who were court-martialed and spent time in prison for the very abuses CACI ordered them to undertake to, quote, “soften up” detainees, set the conditions, particularly in the night shift. And all our clients suffered the kinds of abuses you regrettably showed on the screen.

AMY GOODMAN: So, the photos of Abu Ghraib that shocked the world, naked prisoners with bags over their heads, piled on top of each other in a human pyramid as an American soldier, Sabrina Harman, grins behind them. Her colleague Charles Graner can be seen smiling, giving a thumbs-up. Interestingly, Sabrina Harman testified on behalf of the plaintiffs and broke down on the stand.

BAHER AZMY: Yeah, it was really remarkable and transformative testimony, because she’s one of the co-conspirators who was taking direction from military intelligence, including CACI, to harm detainees. And she’s somebody who expressed — like a lot of the MPs, just was broken by this experience. And what came out in the trial is military generals who investigated Abu Ghraib and documented sadistic, wanton systemic abuses were outraged. The military police who were part of the CACI scheme were broken. And the only person who has never taken responsibility is CACI, until now.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to end with one of the plaintiffs, Salah Al-Ejaili, who was on Democracy Now! a decade ago. He talked about his time in solitary confinement at Abu Ghraib.

SALAH AL-EJAILI: [translated] These interrogations that happened every two or three days would last for an hour, an hour and a half or two hours, in this manner. The details of the interrogations were different. In some cases, they would bring dogs, then start the interrogation. In other cases, they’d put you in a place and throw cold water or hot tea on you, then start the interrogation. But, of course, all the interrogations were conducted while you were kept naked and hooded, and they’d ask you questions to which you answer. I stayed for 40 days in a solitary cell, and 70% of that time I was kept naked.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Abu Ghraib prisoner Salah Al-Ejaili. He now lives in Sweden.

BAHER AZMY: He now lives in Sweden, yeah. And just to clarify, the jury awarded each of the plaintiffs $3 million in compensatory damages and $33 million in punitive damages, because they saw right through CACI’s deflection and finally held them responsible for the egregious and reckless conduct the jury found they engaged in. So, it is a small victory in the context of [inaudible] human rights efforts in the global war on terrorism that so many people have been involved in —

AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds.

BAHER AZMY: — over the 20 years. But it’s still significant.

AMY GOODMAN: Baher Azmy, thank you so much. I’m Amy Goodman. This is Democracy Now!