Iraqi Prisoner
Died In CIA Interrogation
By Aljazeera
18 February, 2005
Aljazeera
An
Iraqi whose corpse was photographed
with grinning US soldiers at Abu Ghraib
prison died under CIA interrogation
while being suspended by his wrists,
with his hands cuffed behind his back.
According to documents
made available
recently and reviewed by the Associated
Press, Manadil al-Jamadi was one of the
CIA's "ghost" detainees at Abu Ghraib -
prisoners being held secretly by the agency.
Al-Jamadi's death
became known last year when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke.
US prison guards
were seen in photos giving thumbs-up over his bruised and puffy-faced
corpse which had been packed in ice.
The US military
had previously said the death had been ruled a murder, but the exact
circumstances under which he died were not disclosed at the time.
But documents now
show al-Jamadi died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging".
It is unclear whether that position was approved by the Bush administration
for use in CIA investigations.
Al-Jamadi died in
a prison shower room during about a half-hour of questioning, before
interrogators could extract any information, according to the documents,
which consist of statements from US army prison guards to investigators
with the military and the CIA's inspector-general's office.
One guard, Sergeant
Jeffery Frost, said the prisoner's arms were stretched behind him in
a way he had never before seen.
Frost and other
guards had been summoned to reposition al-Jamadi, who an interrogator
said was not cooperating. As the guards released the shackles and lowered
al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth "as if a faucet had been
turned on", according to the interview summary.
The military pathologist
who ruled the case a murder found several broken ribs and concluded
al-Jamadi died from pressure to the chest and difficulty in breathing.
Dr Vincent Iacopino,
director of research for Physicians for Human Rights, called the hyper-extension
of the arms behind the back "clear and simple torture".
The European Court
of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of torture in 1996 in a case of
Palestinian hanging a technique Iacopino said is used worldwide
but named for its alleged use by Israel in Palestine.
US Navy SEALs had
apprehended al-Jamadi as a suspect in the October 2003 bombing of Red
Cross offices in Baghdad.
According to court
documents, the SEALs punched, kicked and struck al-Jamadi with their
rifles before handing him over to the CIA early on 4 November. By 7am
that day, he was dead.