Investigation Into Alleged Mistreatment Of Detainees At Crucial Point

One of the country's most sensitive federal criminal investigations has reached a critical stage, NPR's Carrie Johnson tells us.

She reports that a grand jury in Virginia is hearing secret testimony in the two-year-old inquiry into the alleged mistreatment of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that federal prosecutor John Durham has begun issuing subpoenas for witnesses to appear.

According to Time magazine, Carrie adds, prosecutors are focusing on the death of a terrorism suspect at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq eight years ago. The man got roughed up by military and CIA contractors who put his dead body on ice.

Authorities listed his cause of death as homicide. Prosecutors, Carrie reports, are exploring possible war crimes and torture charges.

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