Attorney Tells Why Guantanamo Detainee Attempted Suicide in Front of Him

The Bush administration has decided not to allow human rights investigators from the United Nations to meet with any detainees being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. For three years, UN investigators have been trying to visit the prison camp. A breakthrough appeared to have occurred last week when the Pentagon invited three UN experts to visit Guantanamo, but the invitation was on the condition that they had no access to the detainees. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, said it now makes no sense to send UN experts to Guantanamo under these conditions. He said, "They said they have nothing to hide. If they have nothing to hide, why should we not be able to talk to detainees in private?"

Until now, the detainees have been largely held incommunicado from the outside world with the exception of occasional visits by attorneys. We speak with one of these attorneys -- Joshua Colangelo-Bryan. He represents six men from Bahrain who have been held without charges at Guantanamo. Two weeks ago, he witnessed one of his clients, Jumah Dossari trying to commit suicide. More than twenty other detainees have also tried to commit suicide, but according to the Washington Post, this is believed to be the first such event witnessed by an outsider at the prison. Lawyers and human rights advocates say this highlights the growing desperation among the more than 500 detainees there.

* Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, lawyer for Guantanamo Bay detainees

LISTEN ONLINE (and read transcript):
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/02/1546249