Every Saturday, we revisit a story from the archives. This originally aired on September 13, 2021. None of the dates, titles, or other references from that time have been changed.

Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison was once a front-page headline in the “war on terror”. Today, public knowledge of the torture that made it infamous is starting to fade – but 17 years later, one US lawsuit for its victims is still going on. It centres on private contractors: companies that became an integral part of the US military efforts post-9/11 attacks, which changed the way war is fought – and accountability is sought.

In this episode:

Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov), human rights activist
Katherine Gallagher (@katherga1), senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights
Majid, Abu Ghraib plaintiffs’ legal team member in Iraq

Episode credits:

This episode was updated by Haleema Shah. The original production team was Alexandra Locke with Negin Owliaei, Priyanka Tilve, Dina Kesbeh, Amy Walters, Ney Alvarez, Ruby Zaman, and Malika Bilal.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Andrew Greiner is lead of audience engagement. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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