abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. The scandal surfaced last April with the publication of shocking pictures of the humiliating and degrading treatment of captured Iraqi soldiers in acts which officials said took place in the fall of 2003. One of the accused, Staff Sergeant Jeremy Sivits, was tried by a special court martial in Baghdad in May and was sentenced to a year in prison, reduction in rank and a bad conduct discharge from the military. In cooperating with the military and entering a guilty plea, Sivits is expected to be key witness in the military proceedings against the others in the prisoner abuse case. The others who go to trial would face a full military court martial and face much stiffer punishment than that received by Sivits. --More 2300 Local Time 2000 GMT
