[JURIST] US Army Lt. Col. Steven Jordan [CBS profile; JURIST news archive] was reprimanded Wednesday following his conviction [JURIST report] earlier this week for disobeying an order not to discuss the investigation into allegations of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison [JURIST news archive]. The military jury followed the prosecution's recommendation of a reprimand and determined that Jordan should not be sentenced to prison. Jordan, the second highest intelligence officer at the prison when the abuses took place, could have received a sentence of up to five years imprisonment.

Jordan was convicted Tuesday on the disobeying an order charge, but was acquitted of failing to control soldiers under his command. Prosecutors initially charged [JURIST report] Jordan with seven violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice [text] including disobeying a superior commissioned officer, dereliction of duty, failure to obey a regulation, false swearing, cruelty and maltreatment, and interfering with an investigation. Two charges were dropped [JURIST report] before his court-martial began last week after new evidence came to light that Jordan provided statements to an official investigating the Iraqi prison abuse allegations without being properly read his rights, making his statements inadmissible. In his 2004 report [PDF text; JURIST report], Maj. Gen. George R. Fay recommended that Jordan and Col. Thomas Pappas [official profile], Jordan's superior, be punished for their roles in the abuse scandal. Pappas was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony against Jordan. Pappas testified during Jordan's Article 32 hearing [JURIST report] that Jordan was concerned that he did not have the proper training or experience to assume his role running the Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center [backgrounder] at Abu Ghraib. Jordan is the only commissioned officer to be tried in connection with the prisoner abuse scandal. AP has more.