Ex-CIA Worker Wants to Call Top Officials

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Tuesday, April 12, 2005 8:09 p.m. ET
By MARTHA WAGGONER Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A former CIA operative accused of beating an Afghan prisoner who died in custody wants to subpoena the U.S. attorney general and the former head of the CIA to prove he acted under government authority, according to documents unsealed Tuesday.

The court documents were unsealed in the case of David Passaro following a petition by The Associated Press, The News & Observer of Raleigh and The Washington Post. The news organizations said in a request filed last month that the government was engaged in a secret prosecution of Passaro, a former Special Forces soldier.


Passaro, 38, is charged with four counts of assault. He is accused of beating Abdul Wali with his hands, feet and a large flashlight while he was interrogated for two days at a U.S. base in Afghanistan in June 2003. Wali had turned himself in to U.S. forces, who sought him as a suspect in rocket attacks on the base. He later died in custody.

Passaro is the first civilian prosecuted on charges of mistreating a military detainee in the U.S. war on terrorism.

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