US arrests contractor running a weapons factory in northern Iraq over abuses

A US weapons contractor accused of torturing workers in Iraqi Kurdistan is now in federal custody, according to a statement by the Department of Justice issued on Friday. 

Fifty-two-year-old Ross Roggio was arrested late on Thursday in Pittston, Pennsylvania, on charges alleging that he tortured a victim in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2015, his mother told Fox News-affiliated channel WFXR.

According to federal prosecutors, the Pennsylvania man was accused of suffocating one of his employees, threatening to cut off the victim's finger and forcing Kurdish soldiers to participate in the torture. 

"The heinous acts of violence that Ross Roggio directed and inflicted upon the victim were blatant human rights violations that will not be tolerated," FBI Assistant Director Luis Quesada said in a statement issued on Friday. 

The superseding charges were added to a 37-count federal indictment dating back to 2018 that accused Roggio, and the Roggio Consulting company LLC, of a conspiracy to illegally export firearm parts, firearm manufacturing tools and "defense services", set out in the original indictment. 

Roggio allegedly arranged for the Kurdish military to detain the worker on a military base for weeks on end while he interrogated and tortured his victim, who had raised the alarm about activities by Roggio’s company. 

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the torture charges, according to the Department of Justice.