Editor’s note: This conversation discusses some disturbing subject matter, including torture.

A U.S. jury last week awarded $42 million to three former detainees of Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based military contractor responsible for contributing to their torture and mistreatment two decades ago.

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The decision from the eight-person jury came after a different jury earlier this year couldn’t agree on whether Reston, Virginia-based CACI should be held liable for the work of its civilian interrogators who worked alongside the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004.

The jury awarded plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’ad Al-Zubae $3 million each in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages.

The three testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the prison.

Al-Ejaili joined The Metro on Monday along with Troy attorney Shereef Akeel — who represented the plaintiffs in the case — and local interpreter and attorney Mohammed Alomari, to discuss the case.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

-Reporting by Matthew Barakat, Associated Press

More headlines from The Metro on Nov. 18, 2024: 

• The Kresge Foundation’s Artist Fellowships program has been supporting metro Detroit artists since 2008. Starting in 2025, the Foundation will increase the fellowship awards to $50,000 per artist. Katie McGowan, deputy director for Kresge Arts in Detroit, joined The Metro to talk more about the fellowship program.
• A lot of people are struggling to purchase homes right now. A limited supply of affordable housing options is a part of that problem, propelled by labor shortages, supply shortages and regulatory issues at the city level that make it harder to build. Houm, an architectural design firm in Detroit, is working to change that by building cheaper, more efficent homes. Co-founder Breck Crandell joined the show to talk more about Houm’s efforts to build more affordable homes.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Several Michigan residents were among the many men, women and students of color who received a wave of racist text messages invoking slavery following the 2024 election — prompting inquiries by the FBI and other agencies.

The messages, sent anonymously, were reported in several other states, including New York, Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. 

WDET received screenshots of the text messages from several local students who received them — among them, a middle schooler from Grosse Pointe. The messages generally used a similar tone, but varied in wording, focusing on the minority status of the people being harassed.

Some of the messages instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time “with your belongings,” while others didn’t include a location. Others mentioned the incoming presidential administration.

The widespread incidents are still under investigation by the FBI, with support from the Federal Communications Commission and local law enforcement. The Ohio Attorney General’s office also said it was investigating the messages.

One Black student at Hope College who received a text message, who asked to be anonymous, told WDET that she believes Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election emboldened white supremacists and other bigoted individuals to participate in this type of behavior.

“When the Democrats won back in 2020, America became a more woke country and I feel like the reds felt the need to hide,” she said. “So Trump winning and the Republicans winning practically everything just gave them an opening to go back to the way things were.”

She also suggested that social media apps have made it a trend of sorts for trolls to send ignorant messages, and how misogyny could affect the disproportionate number of women being attacked.

“Honestly I feel like it’s stuff that people are picking up. I think apps like TikTok are spreading the information and giving these racists ideas,” she said. “I feel like it’s a lot of younger guys doing this trend too, because men tend to feed off that energy and want to feel powerful.”

The student emphasized her fear for her privacy and safety, if unknown people can find her phone number and are now willing to be so blatant with their racism.

David Brody, director of the Digital Justice Initiative at The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said that they aren’t sure who is behind the messages but estimated they had been sent to more than 10 states, including most Southern states, Maryland, Oklahoma and even the District of Columbia. 

The leaders of several other civil rights organizations condemned the messages, including Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who said, “Hate speech has no place in the South or our nation.”

Associated Press writers  Ayanna Alexander, Ali Swenson and Gary Fields contributed to this report.

A federal judge has struck down major portions of Michigan’s sex offender registry law.

The decision potentially affects many thousands of people whose names remain on the sex offender registry through many years of litigation. In some cases, names were supposed to be removed before the Legislature made changes to the law. There are also people on the list who were never charged with a sex crime.

In short, the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says changes to the law are unconstitutional because they altered the rules on defendants after their convictions or plea deals. Also, the suit says the law wrongly treats everyone on the registry as though they’re a high risk to public safety. And it argues many of the things people on the registry are required to report to the Michigan State Police — such as email accounts and social media identifying information — do not help law enforcement protect the public and violate First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith did not strike down the registry entirely, upholding its purpose and rejecting the argument for an individual hearing before anyone can be placed on the registry. But, he wrote, the 2021 version of the law “exacts a heavy toll on registrants.”

“This includes requiring frequent in-person reporting, publishing personal information online, and often requiring registration for life,” he wrote. “Yet, as discussed above, there is a spirited debate regarding its effectiveness, particularly as it relates to reducing recidivism. While it is true that SORA contributes to public safety by deterring first-time offenders and providing members of the public with information they can use to protect themselves, it is not clear that these purposes alone justify the heavy toll on registrants.”

Attorney Miriam Aukerman with the ACLU of Michigan said the decision recognizes much of the law is unfair and doesn’t serve its intended purpose.

 “So there are significant changes that will need to be made to address constitutional flaws found by the court,” she told the Michigan Public Radio Network.

Aukerman said it may take weeks or longer to negotiate with the Michigan Attorney General and the Michigan State Police the details of an order to implement the judge’s decision.

The state could try to appeal the decision.

“In consultation with the Attorney General’s Office, we’re still reviewing the ruling and working to determine next steps,” said Michigan State Police Communications and Outreach Director Shanon Banner.