CIA medic faces beating charges

News.com.au

A CIA contractor beat an Afghan prisoner so badly he pleaded to be shot to end his pain, prosecutors said yesterday at the start of a trial that raises questions about the treatment of detainees by US interrogators.

David Passaro, a former Special Forces medic who worked under contract with the CIA, is the first civilian to be charged with abusing a detainee in the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Passaro beat Abdul Wali for “two solid nights”, leading him to plead with prison guards to shoot him to end his suffering, prosecutor Michael Sullivan said. Wali died of his injuries.

“At one point he (Passaro) lined up on Wali as though he was going to kick in a football game and kicked him full in the groin. Abdul Wali was lifted into the air,” Mr Sullivan said. Wali sustained a suspected fractured pelvis that would have made it impossible for him to urinate, he said.

Mr Passaro is charged with four counts of assault and accused of using his hands, feet and a large torch to beat Wali, who died two days after the interrogation in June 2003.

Mr Passaro maintains his innocence and his lawyers presented him as a good soldier who was doing his duty in dangerous circumstances.

After Wali lost consciousness Mr Passaro performed mouth-to-mouth in an unsuccessful bid to revive him, defence lawyer Joseph Gilbert said.

“Dave is guilty only of trying to serve his country,” Mr Gilbert said.