Six months for Abu Ghraib abuser

Davis (left) said he was deeply sorry

A US soldier who stamped on Iraqi prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison has been sentenced to six months in jail and discharged from the army.

Sgt Javal Davis earlier this week admitted stepping on the hands and feet of handcuffed prisoners and falling with his full weight on top of them.

The military jury at Fort Hood, Texas, deliberated for nearly six hours.

Davis, 27, had faced up to eight-and-a-half years in prison but he made a plea bargain with prosecutors.

He also pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the army after photographs of naked and abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib were made public last year.

"I am deeply sorry," he told the jury on Thursday night. "I'm not the perfect soldier."

Prosecutor Maj Michael Holley had asked the jury to sentence Davis to 12 to 24 months in prison.

"These assaults are best characterised by two words: brutal and cowardly," he said during his closing arguments.

ABU GHRAIB SCANDAL Sentenced: Spc Charles Graner Pte Jeremy Sivits Sgt Ivan Frederick Spc Megan Ambuhl Spc Armin Cruz Spc Roman Krol Sgt Javal Davies Facing trial: Pte Lynndie England Spc Sabrina Harman Profile: Charles Graner

Davis, from New Jersey, was a guard at the Abu Ghraib prison for three months in late 2003. He is the seventh person to be sentenced over the abuses - six of them admitted their guilt and one, Charles Graner, was convicted in a court martial.

Two other US soldiers face trial.

Graner - regarded as the ringleader of the abuse scandal - was sentenced to 10 years in jail last month.

The abuse at Abu Ghraib - highlighted in photographs showing naked and injured inmates alongside smiling US troops - sparked international outrage.