Washington ? The American general who headed the U.S. military prison at Abu Ghraib personally witnessed abuses there, an Iraqi man alleged in a federal lawsuit protesting his treatment.

In a videotaped deposition from Iraq played Tuesday, Saddam “Sam” Saleh Aboud said he endured beatings at the prison. During one session, his hood was removed, and he said he saw Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski.

Aboud identified Karpinski from a photograph in a news magazine that his lawyer, Michael Hourigan, showed him.

“He was adamant that there was an occasion when he was being tortured, in Tier 1A, when she was present and watching and laughing as he was being tortured,” Hourigan said. He said Aboud did not know Karpinski’s identity until he told him.

“He knew she was a supervisor because she had a star on her hat and she was in an American uniform,” Hourigan said. “He said the other soldiers would defer to her.”

Neither Karpinski nor her lawyer could be reached immediately for comment. They did not return several telephone calls and e-mail messages from The Associated Press on Tuesday. A Pentagon spokesman also did not return calls from AP.

Karpinski, who was suspended by the Pentagon in May, previously has denied knowing about any abuses at the prison until photographs surfaced at the end of April. U.S. investigators have not implicated Karpinski directly in any of the abuses.

Aboud’s claims were presented as supporting evidence in a federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Aboud, three other alleged victims and the family of a fifth man who died at the prison.