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.