The new images, first broadcast on SBS' Dateline show prisoners who had been stripped naked, some near pools of blood and others apparently lying dead on the floor.
One man appeared to be covered in excrement, another apparently had a gash in his throat, and an alleged interrogation room was covered in blood.
Video footage showed a row of naked men apparently masturbating.
Iraqi anger
Iraqis were outraged by the pictures which they fear could inflame anti-Western sentiment after video footage this week apparently showed four civilians being beaten by British soldiers.
“The Iraqi government strongly condemns the torture of Iraqi prisoners revealed in the images broadcast and insist that it is not repeated,” the government said in a statement.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has lashed out at Washington, branding the depictions in the pictures “savage crimes” which should not go unpunished.
Ordinary Iraqis also expressed digust at the images which SBS claims were taken at the same time of 2004 scandal.
Many feel they highlight the wrongs of the US occupation of Iraq.
“I feel disgusted when I saw those pictures and I felt at the same time how weak our government is that it can’t help its own people,” said shop owner Sadun Mohammed.
Some newspaper editors chose not to publish the pictures which were extensively broadcast on Arab television networks.
“I think if we put pictures in the newspaper like this it will just increase the violence,” Naji Hassan, editor for the independent daily Sabah al-Jadid told AFP.
Fadel al-Sharaa, a representative of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s political movement, expects the photographs will fuel tensions.
“It seems that the occupier still doesn’t understand the nature of the Iraqi people,” he said.
The Pentagon expressed concern that the pictures could incite violence and endanger US troops in Iraq.
Iraqi and US officials have criticised SBS’s decision to broadcast the images.
SBS stands firm
Dateline’s executive producer Mike Carey has defended the decision to publish them.
“It seems to us that there is a quantum leap in the abuse, in the potential abuse… corpses, really despicable sexual humiliation. As far as I understand, these have not been investigated,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said their release may be justified if they show evidence of mistreatment that has not already been investigated.
“If… these photographs were merely reviving behaviour that had been the subject of investigation and prosecution and punishment and people going to jail, then perhaps (it is) another matter,” Mr Howard said.
Nothing new
The US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld insists those involved in abuse at Abu Ghraib have been punished by the US military.
“I’m told that these photographs that are coming out now are nothing more than the same things that came out before, if not identical, of the same type of behaviour,” said Mr Rumsfeld.
He said military personnel have been court-martialed and sent to prison or reduced in rank for what he called unacceptable conduct at Abu Ghraib.
“The Department of Defence from the beginning of this conflict has a policy that prohibits torture. It is not permitted and we do not today. The people are trained to avoid it,” he told a Congressional hearing.
Past convictions
Former Abu Ghraib guards have been convicted of assault, indecency, cruelty and forcing detainees to simulate lewd acts.
The first soldier to face court martial proceedings in 2004 was Specialist Jeremy Sivits, a 24-year-old military policeman.
He was given a one-year jail sentence and discharged from service after pleading guilty to abuse and conspiracy charges.
Specialist Charles Graner Jr, the apparent ringleader of the abuse, was sentenced to ten years jail after pleading guilty.
He was demoted and given a dishonourable discharge.
Private Lynndie England –- Graner’s one-time girlfriend -– was convicted for conspiracy, maltreating detainees and committing an indecent act.
Nine junior US soldiers have been charged in connection with the abuse at the prison and seven of them have already been convicted.
The former US commander in charge of the Iraqi prison, Army Reserve Brigadier General Janis Karpinski was reduced in rank to colonel on orders of President George W Bush.
General Karpinski was the highest ranking US soldier to be disciplined over the prisoner abuse.
Mr Rumsfeld said he had twice offered to resign over the scandal, but was both times refused by Mr Bush.