CIA accused of Abu Ghraib beatings

The CIA interrogated and beat Iraqi prisoners in a room where a handcuffed and hooded prisoner was kicked, slapped and punched shortly before he died last year at the Abu Ghraib prison, a US Navy Seal has testified.

The Seal said five or six CIA men beat a detainee

Blood was visible on the hood worn by the prisoner, Manadal al-Jamadi, as he was led into the interrogation room at Baghdad International Airport in November 2003, the navy commando said at a military pre-trial hearing on Monday for another Seal accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners.

Testifying under a grant of immunity, the witness, identified only by his rank as a hospital corpsman, said he kicked al-Jamadi several times, slapped him in the back of the head and punched him.

Five or six other CIA personnel in the “romper room” laid their hands on the prisoner, he said, but did not provide details.

Sometime later, al-Jamadi was found dead in a shower room at Abu Ghraib less than an hour after two CIA personnel brought him into Abu Ghraib as a “ghost detainee”, according to army Major-General George Fay’s report on the notorious prison.

Such detainees were not listed in the normal roster of military prisoners.

CIA role

The testimony about the CIA’s role came during a hearing for an aviation boatswain’s mate who is accused of punching al-Jamadi and posing in humiliating photos with the prisoner.

The abuse story was broken by CBS' 60 Minutes II
The abuse story was broken by CBS’ 60 Minutes II

The abuse story was broken by
CBS’ 60 Minutes II

The boatswain’s mate allegedly twisted other prisoners’ private parts and struck a prisoner on the buttocks with a wooden board.

An Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury, was held to determine whether the boatswain’s mate should be tried before a court martial.

The hearing concluded on Monday. An investigating officer will recommend what charges, if any, the boatswain’s mate should face.

The accused Seal, who received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Iraq, could get up to 11 years in prison if convicted.

Source: News Agencies