WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has abandoned its legal fight to withhold unpublished photos and videotapes of prisoner abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.
The Defense Department had been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union in October 2003 to release the images, seven months before some of them were leaked to the media, including the Australian Broadcasting Corp., and Salon.com.
In September 2005, a New York judge ruled the department must release the images and the Pentagon appealed. Tuesday, the appeal was dropped, CNN reported.
ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said the government has agreed to comply with the court's order to turn over the images and the government will authenticate photos from Salon.com in its possession, and any of the 74 photos it has that are not on Salon.com will be turned over.
There have been more than 600 criminal investigations in the aftermath of the initial revelations of detainee abuse, a Pentagon official said.
