Guantanamo suicides identified as condemnation grows
The US Defence Department yesterday identified the three Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide, saying one had ties to al-Qaida, another fought for the Taliban and a third had been cleared for transfer to another country.
Saudi Arabians Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi and Yassar Talal Al-Zahrani – identified earlier by Saudi officials – and Yemeni Ali Abdullah Ahmed were the prisoners who hanged themselves by nooses made from sheets and clothing early on Saturday, the department said in a statement.
The deaths touched off new scrutiny and criticism of the prison over the weekend, with human rights groups and foreign dignitaries demanding the facility be closed. An influential US senator called for the government to move faster in determining the fate of hundreds of detainees who have been imprisoned for up to four and a half years with no end in sight.
About 460 people are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban at the Guantanamo camp on an isolated US military base in south-eastern Cuba. Only 10 detainees have been charged, and many claim they were not involved in al Qaida or were low-level Taliban members who never intended to harm the US.
None of the three who committed suicide had been formally charged.
US authorities allege that Ahmed, 28, was a mid- to high-level al Qaida operative with ties to key al-Qaida facilitators and senior membership.
Al-Zahrani, 21, was accused of being a front-line fighter for the Taliban who facilitated weapons purchases for Taliban offensives against US and coalition forces.
The US military accused Al-Utaybi of being a member of alleged militant missionary group Jama’at Al Tablighi. The 30-year-old, born in Al-Qarara, Saudi Arabia, had been recommended for transfer to another country for continued detention, though the Defence Department did not specify where.
Navy Lt. Abuhena Saiful-Islam, an imam, was brought to the base to ensure that the bodies were handled according to Islamic rites, and Guantanamo officials were prepared to perform an Islamic burial at the base if needed, Durand said.
While US officials argued that the suicides were political acts aimed at hurting America’s standing in the world, defence lawyers, human rights activists and former detainees said prisoners are desperate after years in captivity and some view suicide as the only way out – even though Islam forbids it.
“A stench of despair hangs over Guantanamo,” said Mark Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey who along with his son, Joshua, represents two Tunisians at Guantanamo.
“Everyone is shutting down and quitting.”
Denbeaux said he was frightened by the depression he saw in one of the men when he visited the jail on June 2. His client, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, “is trying to kill himself” by participating in a hunger strike and was being fed by force, he said.
“He is normally a gentle, quiet, shy person,” Denbeaux said late Saturday. “He sat there in a subdued state that was almost inert. He was colossally depressed.”
International demands to close the prison grew over the weekend.
Danish Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen, who supported US President George Bush in the Iraq war, said the detention centre’s procedures violate “the very principle of the rule of law” and weaken the fight against terrorism.
Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson said the deaths underlined the need to close the camp and bring detainees to trial or free them. Eliasson said the 25-nation European Union believes the facility should be closed.
The suicides hit a sore point with Saudis, who are angry that more than 130 of their countrymen are at Guantanamo.
The country’s semi-official human rights organisation demanded an independent investigation, questioning whether torture drove the men to suicide.
At Guantanamo, military guards were trying to prevent more suicides by removing sheets from cells when detainees are not sleeping.
Until the deaths, officials reported 41 unsuccessful suicide attempts by 25 detainees since the US began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defence lawyers contend the number of suicide attempts is higher and say they fear that Saturday’s suicides were just the beginning.
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