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U.S. Army Reopens Investigation Into Death of Suspected Iraqi Chemical Weapons Scientist
The U.S. Army has reopened its investigation of the death of an Iraqi scientist who died while in U.S. custody following the invasion, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2004). “The case was initially closed, but after further investigative review a determination was made to reopen the investigation,” said Army spokesman Christopher Gray. He offered no additional details of the investigation. An autopsy showed that Mohammad Munim al-Izmerly suffered a fatal blow to the head around February 2004, 10 months after being taken into U.S. custody. His family believes he might have died after being beaten, AP reported. Weapons investigators suspect that al-Izmerly was involved from the 1970s in Iraqi chemical weapons efforts. The Egyptian-born scientist led the Iraq Intelligence Service chemical section in the 1980s, according to a report last year by Charles Duelfer, chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq. Al-Izmerly’s work included testing poisonous substances on prisoners, according to the report. Australian microbiologist Rod Barton, who worked with the U.S.-led inspection team, said weapons scientists in Iraq might have been beaten during the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. While he was told in February 2004 that al-Izmerly has suffered a fatal brain tumor, “I had suspicions that this person had actually been beaten to death in the prison,” Barton told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. last month. Barton also reported seeing two other detainees who were being questioned about Iraqi weapons programs and appeared to have been beaten
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