In quotes: Sivits testimony

Specialist Jeremy Sivits, 24, is the first US servicemen to be found guilty of the abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail. Here are key quotes from his testimony to the court martial, held in a makeshift courtroom inside the coalition headquarters in Baghdad:

Sivits gave an emotional account of what happened in Abu Ghraib

Sivits described how a soldier explained the treatment of the detainees.

"They said that they were told by Military Intelligence for them to keep doing what they were doing to the inmates because it was working, they were talking."

He added that he did not believe this explanation.

Sivits told what happened when he brought a detainee to join a larger group of prisoners inside the Abu Ghraib prison.

"When I turned the corner, that's when I saw the detainees lying there... They were just lying there with sandbags over their heads."

"I led the detainee in and pushed him into the pile."

He accused two other soldiers of "stamping on [detainees'] toes and hands with their boots, while another soldier "checked their identities".

"Once I saw the people being stomped on, I knew he was going to be assaulted."

Asked if he could have protected the man he was escorting, Sivits said: "I feel that I could have."

"I heard Corporal Graner yelling in Arabic at the detainees."

One of the detainees had the word "rapist" written on his leg by US soldiers.

"[Corporal] Graner punched the detainee in the head or temple area. I said, 'I think you might have knocked him out.'"

"Graner complained that he had injured his hand and said, 'Damn, that hurt.'"

He said Cpl Graner grabbed hold of one of the detainees, took a camera from his pocket and asked Spc Sivits to take a photograph.

"He had the detainees cradled in his arm and had his fist drawn back like he was going to strike the detainee."

"He just staged the photo."

"After that there were some other photos being taken."

The soldiers made the prisoners undress, Sivits said.

"Staff Sergeant (Ivan) Frederick walked over and picked up the detainee I had escorted and punched him in the chest."

"The detainee went down and Sergeant Frederick told me, 'I think I might have put him in cardiac arrest'."