FORT HOOD, Texas, Jan 15 (AFP) - A military jury Friday mulled whether Specialist Charles Graner was guilty of instigating "depraved" abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison or whether the soldier was merely obeying orders.
In its closing statements, the prosecution claimed Graner assaulted and humiliated prisoners for fun, while the defense insisted he was merely following instructions to "soften up" prisoners for interrogation.
"He was the instigator for what happened at Abu Ghraib," Captain Chris Graveline said in the government's closing arguments at Garner's court martial.
"What we have here is plain abuse ... there is no justification, it's for sport, it's for laughs," he told the court at the Fort Hood US army base in Texas.
He pointed to the notorious photographs of a smiling Graner and other military policeman standing by naked detainees in sexually humiliating positions at the US-run prison near Baghdad.
"It's all about their own sexual, depraved humor," the prosecutor said before the 10-man jury started deliberations late Friday morning.
He rejected suggestions Graner and other alleged co-conspirators were ordered by anyone to conduct the abuses.
"They decided for their own amusement to assault, degrade," he said.
He also ridiculed the defense argument that information obtained as a result of harsh treatment of detainees may have helped US troops capture Iraqi former leader Saddam Hussein.
He pointed out several of the abused prisoners were common criminals, including a prostitute who was photographed half-naked at the prison.
"Was she the one who gave up Saddam Hussein," he asked ironically.
Graner's civilian attorney Guy Womack argued that the defendant and his fellow MPs were merely following instructions from Military Intelligence interrogators seeking to obtain information on the anti-US insurgency in Iraq.
And he insisted there was nothing wrong with the way the prisoners were treated, even when they were made to masturbate and simulate oral sex. That incident, he said showed that interrogators knew how to exploit cultural differences to obtain crucial information.
He also said that piling naked detainees in a "cheerleader pyramid" was "an ingenious move" to control the prisoners.
In his rebuttal, Graveline said: "Yes it was creative, it was creative abuse."
Womack also defended the use of a leash Graner put around a detainee's neck as a safe method to drag a potentially dangerous prisoner from his cell. He pointed to a photograph of Private Lynndie England -- who was then Graner's girlfriend -- holding the leash.
"She's barely holding the tether, like she would the smallest of small dogs," said Womack, a former US marine.
He described Graner as "a smart guy, a professional. He was helping our mission in Iraq."
The real crime, Womack said, is that the pictures of the alleged abuses "were leaked ... and embarrassed the US government."
Graner is charged with maltreatment, conspiracy to maltreat, assault, dereliction of duty and indecency.
If two-thirds of the jurors find him guilty he would be convicted and face up to 17 and a half years in prison.
Graner did not testify during the five-day court martial but under military law, he could still do so before sentencing if he is convicted.
His lawyers have had a tough time making their case as they were unable to call any officers to the witness stand, and several of their witnesses undermined the argument Graner was following orders.
The court also heard graphic descriptions of the abuses, among others from three Abu Ghraib detainees.
Graner was the first to plead innocent in the Abu Ghraib scandal, after four soldiers were sentenced last year to charges ranging from expulsion from the army to eight years imprisonment for their role in the abuses.
Two others are to be tried at Fort Hood in coming months, and England, who recently had Graner's child, is also awaiting trial.
01/14/2005 18:24 GMT - AFP