3 CIA Cases Under Scrutiny

WASHINGTON — The CIA has sent three cases to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution against agency personnel accused of involvement in the deaths of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Justice official said Wednesday.

The deaths last year have been linked to CIA officers and contractors. It had been acknowledged that one case had gone to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. In confirming the two additional referrals, the official spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Many details of the three CIA cases remain classified.

In conjunction with the Defense Department, the agency's inspector general has been investigating the deaths -- two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

The earliest case was a June 2003 prisoner death at a U.S. holding facility in Afghanistan's Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan. The other two cases were from November, one at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, and one in Qaim, Iraq.