CIA tried to cover up death of interrogated Abu Ghraib ‘ghost detainee’: TIME News
CIA tried to cover up death of interrogated Abu Ghraib ‘ghost detainee’: TIME

[JURIST] CIA interrogators tried to cover up the death of a man who died while being questioned at Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive] prison, according to a TIME magazine report [press release] published Sunday. The death of Manadel al-Jamadi [Wikipedia profile] was ruled a homicide in a US Department of Defense official autopsy obtained by TIME, citing cause of death as "blunt force injuries" and "asphyxiation." Al-Jamadi was captured by US Navy SEALs on November 4, 2003 and held in Abu Ghraib prison as a "ghost detainee," or unregistered prisoner, for his suspected involvement in the bombing of a Red Cross center in Baghdad that killed 12 people. Ninety minutes after entering CIA custody he was dead and his body was preserved in ice, allegedly to cover up the circumstances of his death. Several figures in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal were later photographed with the body [Charles Graner photo] making "thumbs-up" signs. A US Navy SEAL was court-martialed [JURIST report] in March in connection with al-Jamadi's death, but was later acquitted [AP report]. Mark Swanner, the CIA officer identified as having conducted al-Jamadi's interrogation, has not been prosecuted in connection with his death and has denied any wrongdoing. TIME concludes that "the way al-Jamadi's death was handled after the fact raises questions about whether the CIA is under adequate legal oversight"; the Bush administration is currently pushing for the CIA to be exempt [JURIST report] from the proposed McCain amendment [JURIST document] prohibiting "cruel, inhuman or degrading" interrogation tactics detainee treatment. AFP has more.