Killing of Manadel al-Jamadi

Charles Graner, posing over the body of Manadel al-Jamadi in November 2003

Manadel al-Jamadi (Arabic: مناضل الجمادي) was an Iraqi prisoner who died in United States custody during interrogation at Abu Ghraib Prison on November 4, 2003. His name became known in 2004 when the Abu Ghraib scandal made news; his corpse packed in ice was the background for widely-reprinted photographs of grinning U.S. Army Specialists Sabrina Harman and Charles Graner each offering a "thumbs-up" gesture. Al-Jamadi had been a suspect in a bomb attack that killed 12 people in a Baghdad Red Cross facility.

Circumstances of death

U.S. Navy SEALs had apprehended al-Jamadi following the October 27, 2003, bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 12 people. At approximately 4 am on November 4, 2003, al-Jamadi was led by American forces into the prison, naked from the waist down wearing only a purple shirt and jacket with a green sandbag over his head, while answering questions in both Arabic and English with his handlers.

A ghost prisoner who was not logged in the records said he was passive and nervous "like a scared child", and there was reportedly "no need to get physical with him", though an interrogator soon started shouting at him, demanding to know where weapons were hidden.

The cause of his death was not generally known until February 17, 2005, when it was revealed that he had died after a fruitless half-hour interrogation, during which he was suspended from a barred window by his wrists, which were bound behind his back. News reports introduced the term "Palestinian hanging." Associated Press correspondent Seth Hettena reported that 30 minutes after beginning his questioning of the prisoner, the CIA interrogator Mark Swanner called for guards to reposition al-Jamadi, who he believed was "playing possum" as he slouched with his arms stretched behind him. But the guards found otherwise:

"After we found out he was dead, they were nervous," Specialist Dennis Stevanus said of the CIA interrogator and translator. "They didn't know what the hell to do."

According to Spc. Jason Kenner, an M.P. with the 372nd Military Police Company, al-Jamadi was brought to the prison by U.S. Navy SEALs in good health; Kenner says he saw that al-Jamadi looked extensively bruised when he was brought out of the showers, dead. According to Kenner a "battle" took place among CIA and military interrogators over who should dispose of the body.

Captain Donald Reese, company commander of the 372nd Military Police Company, gave testimony about al-Jamadi's death, saying that he saw the dead prisoner. Reese was quoted as saying that "I was told that when he was brought in, he was combative, that they took him up to the room and during the interrogation he passed [...] (the body) was bleeding from the head, nose, mouth." Reese stated that the corpse was locked in a shower room overnight and the next day was fitted with an intravenous drip; he said that this was an attempt to hide what occurred from other inmates. Reese said the body was then autopsied, establishing the cause of death as a blood clot from trauma.

Sgt. Ivan Frederick wrote an account to his family in November 2003 that interrogators had "[s]tressed him out so bad that the man died. [Prison personnel] put his body in a body bag and packed him in ice for approximately twenty-four hours in the shower. [...] The next day the medics came and put his body on a stretcher, placed a fake IV in his arm and took him away".

Al-Jamadi came to be known by some Abu Ghraib personnel as "The Iceman" and "Mr. Frosty". Others called him "Bernie", a reference to the movie Weekend at Bernie's in which a dead body is treated as if still alive.

Investigation and charges

On May 28, 2005, Navy SEAL Lieutenant Andrew Ledford, the commanding officer of the platoon of SEALs that were accused of inflicting the fatal beating, was acquitted of all responsibility for al-Jamadi's death. Ledford had been charged with assault, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and making false statements.

Eight members of Ledford's platoon received administrative punishment for abuse of al-Jamadi and other prisoners.

According to an article on the Court TV website: "Another lieutenant received a career-killing punitive letter of reprimand following a hearing before the Navy's top SEAL."

Mark Swanner, the CIA interrogator, has faced no charges. In August 2007, Thomas Pappas, the most senior officer present during the interrogation and time of death, was granted immunity in return for his testimony at the court martial of his subordinate Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan.

In 2011, John Durham, Republican-appointed U.S. Attorney from Connecticut tasked with probing the CIA — has begun calling witnesses before a secret federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., looking into, among other things, the death of al-Jamadi.

External links

• Human Rights First; Command’s Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan* "Abu Ghraib - The Sequel". Special Broadcasting Service. February 15, 2006. Archived from the original on March 31, 2006.
• "CIA employees may testify in SEAL trial". Court TV. May 24, 2005.
• "CIA man saw detainee abuse". News24. May 25, 2005.
• Perry, Tony (May 28, 2005). "SEAL Officer Not Guilty of Assaulting Iraqi". Los Angeles Times.
• "A DEADLY INTERROGATION -- Can the C.I.A. legally kill a prisoner?". The New Yorker. November 14, 2005.
• "Other government agencies". Salon.com. March 14, 2006.
• Morris, Errol (May 19, 2008). "The Most Curious Thing". New York Times.
• "Investigation documents at the Department of Defense" (PDF).