[JURIST] The driver of two French journalists who were captured in Iraq by Islamic militants and held for five months until their release in late December is suing the US military for mistreatment and torture, according to the office of maverick French advocate Jacques Verges. Muhamed al-Jundi, a Syrian, was captured along with the journalists but was later found in a house in Fallujah on November 12 during the American assault on the city. Verges says that his client was beaten, tortured with electric shocks, subjected to mock executions by the US soldiers and held incommunicado for a week before being released along with other Iraqis. A member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, al-Jundi is now seeking political asylum in France. He says he did not make his claims public earlier because of concern for the lives of the French journalists who were still being held. From Paris, Nouvel Observateur has local coverage in French. AP has more.

1:32 PM ET – al-Jundi told reporters Wednesday that he was better treated by his militant Iraqi captors than by American troops. AP has more (in French).