By: The Associated Press At the eleventh hour, lawyers for the Pentagon refused to cooperate with a federal judge's order to release dozens of unseen photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The photos were among thousands turned over by Specialist Joseph M. Darby. Just a few that were released to the press sparked the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal last year.
The new photos were to be released by Saturday.
The lawyers said in a letter sent to the federal court in Manhattan that they would file a sealed brief explaining their reasons for not turning over the material. They had been ordered to do so by a federal judge in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU accused the government Friday of putting another legal roadblock in the way of its bid to allow the public to see the images of the prisoner abuse scandal.
"We obviously express skepticism about the latest move on the government's part to withhold information the public is clearly entitled to," said Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU.
Sean H. Lane, the government lawyer handling the case, referred questions to Herbert Haddad, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney David Kelley. Haddad said the government did file papers in the case under seal, and he said he could not discuss their contents for that reason.
Singh said the delay by the government would be challenged in court by the ACLU.
Lane has argued that releasing pictures would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment.
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