Detainee beaten up in CIA romper room, says Navy SEAL

THE CIA interrogated and roughed up Iraqi prisoners in a “romper room”, where a handcuffed and hooded terror suspect was kicked, slapped and punched shortly before he died at the Abu Ghraib prison, a US Navy SEAL claimed.

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

Testifying in San Diego, California 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 staff laid their hands on the prisoner, he said, but he did not provide details.

Al-Jamadi was later found dead in a shower room, less than an hour after two CIA personnel brought him into Abu Ghraib as a so-called “ghost detainee”, according to US Army Major General George Fay’s report on the notorious prison. Such detainees were not listed in the normal roster of military prisoners.

General Fay’s report said Al-Jamadi died of a clot in the head, probably due to injuries suffered after being detained. The military pathologist’s report listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma complicated by hampered breathing.

A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment on the hearing.