A U.S. soldier convicted of abusing Iraqi prisoners has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
A military court in Fort Hood, Texas, imposed the prison term on Specialist Charles Graner and ordered that he be dishonorably discharged from the Army.
The case against the 36-year-old soldier, described (by the prosecution) as a jailer who enjoyed seeing the prisoners under his care suffer, will be reviewed automatically by the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, but Graner was led out of court in shackles Saturday (to begin serving the sentence).
Graner did not testify in his own defense (earlier), but he told the court before the sentence was pronounced that civilian contractors and military intelligence officers had ordered him to commit abusive acts against Iraqi prisoners. The American said he did not enjoy what he did.
(Prosecutors were unable to cross-examine [question] Graner during the saentencing phase of the trial.)
A 10-man military jury convicted Graner (Friday) of charges of aggravated assault, indecency, maltreatment, conspiracy and dereliction of duty.