US officer cleared of Iraq abuse

A US navy officer has been acquitted on charges that he beat an Iraqi prisoner who later died in US custody.

Lieutenant Andrew Ledford, 32, was accused of assault, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming of an officer and making false statements.

The charges related to an incident in 2003 in which his navy unit captured a suspected Iraqi insurgent in Baghdad.

The military jury at the court martial deliberated for three hours before clearing Lt Ledford on all charges.

The man who died, Manadel al-Jamadi, was arrested during a raid in the Iraq capital in November 2003.

He was turned over to US intelligence interrogators and died a few hours later while in custody at Abu Ghraib prison.

A photograph of Mr Jamadi's corpse was widely published, showing him packed in ice with a large bandage below his right eye.