by Justin Cole
FORT BRAGG, North Carolina, Aug 5 (AFP) - US Army officers testifying here at the hearing of a soldier accused of mistreating Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison implicated military intelligence officers on Thursday in acts of purported abuse.
The officers were testifying at a special hearing for Private Lynndie England, notoriously photographed holding a leash around a naked detainee's neck, which will determine if she should face a court-martial and a possible 38 years in jail.
England, 21, faces 19 counts of abusing Iraqi inmates, discrediting the army and other charges stemming from her service as an army reservist with a military police unit in Abu Ghraib prison late last year.
Captain Brent Fitch told the hearing by telephone from Charlottesville, Virginia, he had seen a photograph that pictured three military intelligence (MI) officers abusing a detainee.
It was not clear from the day's testimony so far if the photograph was one of several that have been leaked to the media or if it was one of the hundreds that have been seized as part of other army probes into abuse at the jail.
Asked if he had seen a photograph of the MI officers abusing a detainee, Fitch replied: "I did."
Fitch was the chief legal advisor to Colonel Thomas Pappas who commanded the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade that essentially ran the prison from November 2003.
He also testified that MI officers sometimes wore "sanitised" uniforms in the jail. The army says this was so detainees could not identify their interrogators.
Captain Carolyn Wood, who supervised MI interrogators at the prison between August and December of 2003, testified by telephone she had also seen a photograph of intelligence officers abusing detainees.
"That was in May of this year," she answered when asked when she had seen the picture. "I signed a sworn statement."
It was unclear from the testimony if the photos referred to by Fitch and Wood were the same photograph.
The issue could be critical to England's defense because her lawyers have claimed that MI officers encouraged abuse at the prison by military policemen in order to soften up detainees.
England's lawyers are seeking to prove she was just following orders.
The army contends, however, that England and some of her fellow military police officers acted in a rogue fashion and were not following orders.
In earlier testimony Thursday, an army investigator said England's boyfriend, Corporal Charles Graner had been singled out as a "ring-leader" of the abuse at Abu Ghraib.
Special agent Tyler Pieron said he had spoken with Private Joseph Darby, who has been credited with bringing the abuse at Abu Ghraib to the attention of his superiors, resulting in a military investigation and crackdown.
"It was my impression talking to Darby, that Graner was the ring-leader of the abuse," said Pieron.
Graner is also facing charges in connection with the prison scandal which embarrassed the US military authorities in Iraq and sparked worldwide outrage. England is pregnant with his child.
Another army special agent, Manora Iem, said the mistreatment at Abu Ghraib "started usually during the evening time," when Graner was in charge of the cell block.
At the end of the hearing, expected later this week, judge Colonel Denise Arn will determine if England should face a court-martial.