In a 92-page opinion, the district court also rejected claims of
government contractor immunity defense. The Iraqis, all of whom were
released without charge, claimed they were tortured while imprisoned at
detention facilities across Iraq, including Abu Ghraib. American contractors
were said to have played a major role in the U.S. military's interrogation
and detention of insurgency suspects in Iraq.
"During wartime," the court wrote, "many things are lawful in that
season, which would not be permitted in a time of peace. Some actions,
however, have been deemed so repulsive to mankind, or so disconnected from
prosecuting and winning a war, that they are universally condemned. The law
of war attempts to rein in these behaviors. One such universally recognized
rule is that torture is prohibited."
The suit alleged that L-3 employees tortured and abused the detainees,
arrested by coalition forces and held for up to four years between July 2003
and May 2008. The plaintiffs said they had been beaten, hung by their hands
and feet, given electrical shocks and sexually assaulted.
The detainees cited one L-3 employee, identified as Adel Nakhla, a U.S.
citizen born in Egypt. Nakhla, photographed participating in the torture of
prisoners at Abu Ghraib, worked as an Arabic translator from June 2003
through May 2004 at Abu Ghraib. The suit said Nakhla later confessed his
involvement in torture to U.S. military investigators.
"These men were senselessly tortured by a company that profited from
their misery," Susan Burke, who represents the former detainees, said. "They
came to U.S. courts because our laws, as they have for generations, allow
their claims to be heard here."
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