Torture suit against U.S. contractors

LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- An Iraqi man who claims he was tortured by U.S. military contractors at Abu Ghraib prison and then freed without being charged filed a federal lawsuit Monday.

Emad Al-Janabu, 43, an Iraqi blacksmith, claims in a news release he was beaten and forced from his home in September 2003 by men dressed in U.S. military uniforms and civilian clothing and then was taken to Abu Ghraib. Over the course of the next 10 months, Al-Janabu said he was hung by his feet and arms, exposed to a mock execution of relatives, threatened with dogs and other inhumane acts.

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claims Al-Janabu was a "ghost detainee" and targets security firms CACI International Inc. and CACI Premier Technology Inc. of Arlington, Va.; L-3 Communications Titan Corp. of San Diego; and former CACI contractor Steven Stefanowicz, whom Al-Janabu said was known as "Big Steve" at Abu Ghraib.

Al-Janabu's legal team includes attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit, anti-torture legal resources organization. The attorneys say they want to make military contractors take responsibility for what they call the torture of innocent Iraqis.