Ex-Green Beret from NC dies in Mexico; ran private Afghan jail, tortured terror suspects [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Ex-Green Beret from NC dies in Mexico; ran private Afghan jail, tortured terror suspects
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2:59 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jonathan “Jack” Idema, a former Green Beret from North Carolina convicted of running a private jail in Afghanistan where he tortured terrorism suspects, has died. He was 55.

The director-general of police in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Arturo Olivares Mendiola, said Idema died of AIDS on Saturday. No one has shown up to claim his body from the medical examiner’s office, Mendiola said.

Idema had moved to Mexico at some point after being released from prison in Afghanistan in 2007, when he was pardoned by President Hamid Karzai as part of a general amnesty.

A native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Idema joined the Army in 1975 and was an active duty Special Forces soldier until 1978. He eventually settled in Fayetteville and began a long series of bizarre and sometimes criminal misadventures while pursuing the national spotlight.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ex-green-beret-from-nc-dies-in-mexico-ran-private-afghan-jail-tortured-terror-suspects/2012/01/25/gIQAQxYuQQ_story.html