FORT BRAGG - A United States military court has temporarily halted a hearing to decide if Private Lynndie England, the soldier photographed holding a naked Iraqi prisoner on a leash, should stand trial for abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib prison.
Lawyers for England asked hearing officer Colonel Denise Arn for permissionto call more than 50 additional witnesses, including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, after the court heard 25 witnesses over the first four days.
England was charged with 19 counts of prisoner abuse, committing indecent acts and disobeying orders in a scandal that shocked the Arab world and damaged the US image during a bloody insurgency in Iraq last spring.
She faces up to 38 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Arn said she would take some time to consider if additional witnesses should be heard and gave no indication when England's hearing would resume.
Among the witnesses her lawyers want to call are Vice-President Dick Cheney.
