Reply #7: Afghan official counters prisoner death claim

[struggle4progress]

Days after a former CIA contractor was charged in the death of an Afghan in U.S. custody, a regional official today cast doubt on a defense lawyer's claim that the prisoner died of a heart attack.
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Passaro's defense has seized on a June 27, 2003, comment made to an Iranian radio station by Fazel Akbar, the governor of Kunar province where the base is located, as evidence that Wali died of a heart attack.

But the governor's spokesman said today that Akbar had only suspected heart problems because U.S. officials insisted the man was not mistreated and after a cursory examination by Afghan officials of the corpse.

Spokesman Hyder Akbar, who is also the governor's son, said that his father's initial assessment was "just speculation."
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2636808