A 2006 photo from Abu Ghraib prison shows several hooded, naked Iraqis. One of them has "I'm a rapist" (I'm a rapist) written on his leg at his waist.

A photo released in 2006 shows several hooded, naked Iraqis. One of them has "I'm a rapist" (I'm a rapist) written on his leg at his waist.

　The photos were taken by an American soldier who was serving as a military police officer at Abu Ghraib prison. It began in late April 2004 when an American soldier obtained these photos from a friend and gave them to his commanding officer. The television program 60 Minutes II published 12 of the photos and reported that more were on the way. Some of the photos showed male and female Americans in military uniforms posing with naked Iraqi prisoners.

　Photos of torture at Abu Ghraib prison, released in April 2004, sparked outrage around the world. Photos of prisoners covered in feces, chained, beaten, cut, stripped naked, with bags over their heads, and made to stand in humiliating positions. The military guards are laughing and giving thumbs up. The photograph of a prisoner with a bag over his head, tied to a wire, and standing on a box has become synonymous with the torture inflicted on prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Prisoners standing on the box were told that if they moved, the wires would catch them and they would be electrocuted.

　Abu Ghraib prison in the town of Abu Ghraib was one of the most notorious prisons in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime. After the invasion, the U.S. military renovated it and turned it into a military prison, housing about 7,490 prisoners.

　According to a 2004 report by the Red Cross, about 70-90% of the prisoners were wrongly incarcerated. Abu Ghraib prison is a prison where U.S. forces held Iraqi prisoners of war from 2003 to 2006. Abuses took place in the prison's cell blocks 1A and 1B, where certain enhanced interrogation techniques for foreign detainees were authorized by the U.S. Department of Justice in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Eleven U.S. soldiers were convicted by court-martial on charges related to the Abu Ghraib allegations. Seven of them were soldiers of the Maryland-based 372nd Military Police Company. Many other servicemen were not indicted but were disciplined.