Iraqis condemned a US decision to free a former notorious ringleader of the American occupation guards, who was found guilty of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Iraqis condemned a US decision to free a former notorious ringleader of the American occupation guards, who was found guilty of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Charles Graner served more than six-and-a-half years of a 10-year sentence, army officials said.
Iraqi citizens in Baghdad as well as in a number of other cities slammed the decision to release him as an unjust one, saying that US troops should not be granted immunity from Iraqi prosecution.

“This is an unjust decision … anyone who [has] committed such crimes should not be freed so easily,” said Wael Safah Jassem, a local citizen.

Many Iraqis have also called for the execution of Graner. “He should be executed for his crime in Abu Ghraib,” said government employee Anwar Hamud.

Garner was the head of a 6-member team of US prison guards who had sexually abused the prisoners of Abu Ghraib, after the US-led invasion in Iraq in 2003.

His team had taken photos, posing next to naked detainees stacked in a Pyramid, held on a leash or threatened by dogs. The photos then somehow found its way to the media in 2004 and further damaged the reputation of the US.
Garner said he was breaking down prisoners for interrogation on the orders of military intelligence officers.