US News
US soldier convicted in Abu Ghraib affair returns to duty
By DPA
Nov 3, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - A US military soldier convicted in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal has returned to duty and departed back to the Middle East, a US Army spokesman said Friday.

Sergeant Santos Cardona was sentenced in June to 90 days of hard labour after being convicted of mistreating detainees at the infamous prison with a military police dog.

He has completed his sentence and was deployed Monday with his 23rd MP Company to its staging area in Kuwait, Major James Crabtree, a spokesman at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

Crabtree would not confirm whether Cardona was to return to Iraq, after US media reported Pentagon concerns that he could become a target of vengeance minded insurgents, placing his unit at increased risk.

Cardona was in at least one photograph that emerged in April 2004 showing him scaring a detainee with a dog. The publication of the photographs showing the abuse of detainees prompted worldwide outrage and an apology from US President George W Bush.

Cardona is one of 11 US soldiers convicted over the affair.