Abu Ghraib prisoner beaten up in CIA 'romper room'

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 Navy Seal claimed.

Blood was visible 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 in the room laid their hands on the prisoner, he said, but he did not provide details.

Some time later, Al-Jamadi was 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 Army Maj Gen George Fay’s report on the notorious prison. Such detainees were not listed in the normal roster of military prisoners.

Fay’s report said al-Jamadi died of a blot 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, but noted that the agency was conducting its own investigation into the CIA’s involvement in prisoner detentions and interrogations in Iraq.

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 boatswain’s mate, a 14-year Navy veteran, allegedly twisted other prisoners’ testicles and struck a prisoner in 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 court-martialled.

The hearing concluded yesterday. 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 receive up to 11 years in prison if convicted.

Al-Jamadi, described in an Army report as a suspect in an attack on a Red Cross building, was captured by members of a Coronado, California-based Seal unit during a joint special forces-CIA mission.

Al-Jamadi was subdued after a fierce struggle with the accused Seal, the corpsman said. After al-Jamadi was cuffed, he said he watched the accused and another Seal “body slam” the captive into the back of a Humvee.

The commandos then drove to an Army base where the accused Seal jabbed al-Jamadi with the muzzle of his weapon, according to the corpsman. He said while some of the blows were excessive, others were intended to silence al-Jamadi, who kept talking and shouting in Arabic.

The hospital corpsman was a surprise witness during the two-day proceeding, taking the witness stand only hours after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors that would spare him prison time.

Besides the corpsman and the boatswain’s mate, five other members of the Seal team were charged with abusing Iraqi prisoners. Charges against a chief petty officer were dismissed last week. Article 32 hearings for the other four Seals have not been scheduled.