BAGHDAD - The Iraqi truck driver shakes his head with disbelief when he recalls the screams of a girl he says was raped by US soldiers, and the shame of being urinated on when he was imprisoned at Abu Ghraib.

Saddam Saleh was held for four months at the jail just outside Baghdad. For 18 days he was kept naked for 23 hours a day, chained by his arms and legs to the bars of his cell with loud music blaring constantly in his ears.

Saleh, 29, appears in at least one of the pictures of torture and degradation that have so far emerged from Abu Ghraib, standing in a row of naked and hooded men as Private Lynndie England, cigarette in mouth, points at their genitals.

Most of the time he was held in a razor-wire pen outside, but for nearly a month he was held in cell 42 of block 1A, the most notorious wing, where much of the worst abuse took place.

By far the worst thing he remembers is the rape of a girl who appeared no more than 16. According to Saleh, a US soldier ripped off her clothes and raped her in front of her father as he was tied to bars in the hallway outside block 1A.

"When she started screaming you can't imagine how it sounded. I still hear the echoes of her screams in my head," Saleh said. "What beasts could have done that?"

Saleh was sent to Abu Ghraib on December 1 last year, after the worst of the abuses are said to have taken place, and was freed on March 28, according to his release papers, which list him as prisoner 200144.

Saleh recalled how one American soldier "had one of the soldiers urinate on me, he beat me with an iron bar and dragged me around the floor in chains."

When recounting his experiences, Saleh occasionally switches into very basic English, repeating words he often heard his jailers use, like "son of a bitch" and "bastard".

Saleh, a truck driver from west of Baghdad, says he was arrested in the capital after going to the police to alert them to a suspicious car.

After finding a lot of money on him, the police themselves became suspicious and handed Saleh over to US forces. Saleh says the money was to buy furniture before his marriage.

He says he only found out the accusations against him three days before being released. He was told that he was being held on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist cell.

'I want to testify'

Saleh is aware that Specialist Jeremy Sivits, who is alleged to have taken many photos of the abuse, would be court-martialled in Baghdad on May 19, and wants to attend the trial. If he is prevented, he says he will force his way in.

"I want to give evidence. I want to tell them what I suffered," he said.

Saleh believes his attackers should receive the same punishment as they meted out to their captives. "Even if it's just for half an hour, it would be enough," he said. He is alarmed that Iraqis will not be involved in the trial.

"If Iraq invaded America and treated Americans like they treated us, would they let Iraqis try themselves? It's unbelievable to me that the enemy becomes the judge."

Towards the end of the interview, Saleh asked a translator to tell him what his release paper, kept tightly folded in his wallet, actually says. After the formulaic legal document is translated, Saleh asks: "But does it say sorry anywhere?"

Six weeks after his release, he says he has lost the will to live. He is too ashamed to be seen by his friends and family and has not seen or spoken to his fiancee. The wedding is off.

"I was a man before, but my manhood was taken away," he says. "Since this happened to me, I consider myself dead. My life feels over."

(Agencies via Xinhua)