RALEIGH, Aug 8: A CIA contractor accused of beating an Afghan prisoner so badly that he later died told a colleague afterward that he had kicked the detainee in the groin, a prosecution witness told a federal court on Tuesday.

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 U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a case that raises questions about government guidelines for interrogators since the Sept 11, 2001, attacks, Mr Passaro has pleaded not guilty to four counts of assault for allegedly beating Abdul Wali over two nights in June 2003.

Interrogator guidelines have been an issue since a prisoner abuse scandal at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. Some prisoners released from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba also say they were tortured or abused.

At the Passaro trial, a CIA officer who testified under the assumed name of Randy Wilson and wore a disguise to protect his identity told a jury that he had served with Passaro at a U.S. base in Pakistan in 2003.

Wilson said he saw Wali being brought into the base for interrogation and days later medics rushing to the detention facility where Wali died. Later, Passaro spoke to him about his dealings with Wali, Wilson said.

“He ... told me that he had struck him ... He said he had kicked him in the groin. I was quite surprised about that. He had said that he thought that Wali was going after someone,” Wilson said in his testimony to the jury.

In an opening statement on Monday, prosecutors said Passaro kicked Wali so hard during an interrogation that the detainee was lifted off the ground and probably fractured his pelvis. Wali died of multiple injuries.

Defence lawyers in cross-examination attempted to show that Passaro was not trained in interrogation. They pressed witnesses who trained with him before going to Afghanistan to say whether they had been specifically told anything about the legal status of Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees.

“Do you recall (being told) that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to Al Qaeda” and the Taliban, assistant federal public defender Joseph Gilbert asked another CIA witness, who testified under the assumed name of Gary Wagner.

Wagner, who also wore a disguise, said: “I doubt it, that there was any guidance that said that those rules don’t apply to those groups.”

Prosecutors on Monday said Passaro told U.S. Army guards he had special rules under which he could use force to interrogate Wali.

During the trial, defence lawyers are likely to argue that interrogation techniques used by Passaro were consistent with CIA guidelines approved by his superiors. Gilbert said on Monday his client was not trained in interrogation.—Reuters