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US to investigate Iraqi inmate's death
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-21 00:20 The US Justice Department is investigating the
death of an Abu Ghraib prison detainee whose body, packed in ice, is documented
in photos that also show two American soldiers posing nearby with thumbs up, a
U.S. official said Thursday.
The photos show Army Sgt. Charles A. Graner Jr. and Spc. Sabrina Harman,
both of whom have already been charged in the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal. They
were shown first Wednesday by ABC-TV and on Thursday by the Arabic TV station
Al-Arabiya.
Spc. Sabrina
Harman, also of the 372nd Military Police Company, gives a thumbs-up sign
by the body of Iraqi detainee Manadel al-Jamadi.
[Reuters/ABCNEWS] |
A U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified
the dead detainee as Manadel al-Jamadi. The official confirmed that al-Jamadi's
death was among those being investigated for possible criminal violations by
Justice Department prosecutors.
The detainee, whose badly bruised corpse was in a body bag packed with ice,
died in the prison's showers while being interrogated by the CIA or other
civilian agents, ABC reported Wednesday. At least three such CIA cases have been
referred by the agency to the Justice Department for prosecution, the official
said.
In an account published Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the
victim had been brought to the prison with his head covered by an empty sandbag.
It said he died in the midst of intensive questioning in the shower by military
intelligence officials. After he collapsed, the interrogators removed the bag
and then saw severe head wounds that had not been treated.
Calls by The Associated Press on Thursday to Graner's lawyer, Guy Womack of
Houston, and to Harman's attorney, Frank Spinner of Colorado Springs, Colo.,
were not immediately returned.
Womack told ABC News the photo of his client represented inappropriate
"gallows humor."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman
John Warner, R-Va., that its criminal investigators in Baghdad were given a new
photo diskette "under circumstances that warranted investigation, including
forensic computer evaluation." The diskette contains 24 photos showing what
appears to be abusive acts committed by U.S. forces.
"Thirteen photographs appear to be images already seen on international
television media," said Assistant Defense Secretary Powell A. Moore, in a letter
to Warner. "The other 11 images have not been identified in previous
investigations. They may not be original or true photographs."
A Senate Republican aide said the senators would wait until investigators
determine the circumstances of the photos before they ask to see them.
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