Manadel al-Jamadi
Encyclopedia
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i prisoner who died in United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
custody during interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
at Abu Ghraib Prison
Abu Ghraib prison
The Baghdad Central Prison, formerly known as Abu Ghraib prison is in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad. It was built by British contractors in the 1950s....
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
Specialist (rank)
Specialist is one of the four junior enlisted ranks in the U.S. Army, just above Private First Class and equivalent in pay grade to Corporal. Unlike Corporals, Specialists are not considered junior non-commissioned officers...
Sabrina Harman and Charles Graner
Charles Graner
Charles A. Graner, Jr., is a former U.S. Army reservist who was convicted of prisoner abuse in connection with the 2003–2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal...
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 sandbagSandbag
A sandbag is a sack made of hessian/burlap, polypropylene or other materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification, shielding glass windows in war zones and ballast....
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
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
correspondent Seth Hettena
Seth Hettena
Seth Hettena is an investigative writer and the author of a book on former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Feasting on the Spoils. He has reported on possible abuse by Navy SEALs in Iraq and the death of a CIA prisoner in a position known as a "Palestinian hanging." He is a graduate of The...
reported that 30 minutes after beginning his questioning of the prisoner, the CIA interrogator Mark Swanner
Mark Swanner
Mark Swanner is a CIA interrogator. He worked at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. A prisoner named Manadel al-Jamadi died during one of his interrogations while his wrists were tied behind his back....
called for guards to reposition al-Jamadi, who he believed was "playing possum
Playing Possum
Playing Possum is singer-songwriter Carly Simon's fifth studio album, released in April 1975. It was her third consecutive album to reach the top ten of the best-selling album charts, peaking at number 10 in June 1975. Singles from the album were not as successful. The first single from the album,...
" 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
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
interrogators
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
over who should dispose of the body.
Captain Donald Reese, company commander
Company Commander
A company commander is the commanding officer of a company, a military unit which typically consists of 100 to 350 soldiers, often organized into three or four smaller units called platoons....
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
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
, establishing the cause of death as a blood clot
Thrombus
A thrombus , or blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. It is achieved via the aggregation of platelets that form a platelet plug, and the activation of the humoral coagulation system...
from trauma
Physical trauma
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
.
Sgt.
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
Ivan Frederick
Ivan Frederick
Ivan Frederick II , called Chip Frederick, of Buckingham County, Virginia, is a former Staff Sergeant in the United States Army. He was the highest in rank of the seven U.S. military police personnel who have been charged with torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, all of whom were...
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
Stretcher
A stretcher is a medical device used to carry casualties or an incapacitated person from one place to another. It is a simple type of litter, and still called by that name in some cases....
, 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
Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's is a 1989 American comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff. A comedy starring Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman features the two as a couple of young insurance agency employees who discover their boss is deceased...
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 acquittedAcquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
of all responsibility for al-Jamadi's death. Ledford had been charged with assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
, dereliction of duty
Dereliction of duty
Dereliction of duty is a specific offense under United States Code Title 10,892. Article 92 and applies to all branches of the US military. A service member who is derelict has willfully refused to perform his duties or has incapacitated himself in such a way that he cannot perform his duties...
, 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
Court TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
website: "Another lieutenant received a career-killing punitive letter of reprimand
Letter of reprimand
A letter of reprimand is a United States Department of Defense procedure involving a letter to an employee or soldier from his or her superior that details the wrongful actions of the person and the punishment that can be expected...
following a hearing before the Navy's top SEAL."
Mark Swanner
Mark Swanner
Mark Swanner is a CIA interrogator. He worked at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2003. A prisoner named Manadel al-Jamadi died during one of his interrogations while his wrists were tied behind his back....
, the CIA interrogator, has faced no charges. In August 2007, Thomas Pappas
Thomas Pappas
Thomas M. Pappas is a former United States Army colonel and is currently a high level, civilian intelligence officer with the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was the Brigade Commander of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prisoner...
, 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
Steven L. Jordan
Lieutenant Colonel Steven L. Jordan is a Civil Affairs officer with the United States Army Reserve. He volunteered to return to active duty to support the war in Iraq, and with a background in military intelligence, was made the director of the Joint Interrogation Debriefing Center at Abu Ghraib...
.
In 2011, John Durham
John Durham
For the Medal of Honor recipient, see John Durham .John Durham is a federal prosecutor. He is probably best known for leading an inquiry into allegations that FBI agents and Boston police had ties with the mob....
, 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.
In other media
Anthony Diaz, Jeffery Frost, Sabrina Harman, and Javal Davis are interviewed in the 2008 film Standard Operating ProcedureStandard Operating Procedure (film)
Standard Operating Procedure is a 2008 documentary film which explores the meaning of the photographs taken by U.S. military police at the Abu Ghraib prison in late 2003, the content of which revealed the torture and abuse of its prisoners by U.S. soldiers and subsequently resulted in a public...
about al-Jamadi's presence and corpse at Abu Ghraib.
External links
- Human Rights First; Command’s Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan*