Guantanamo Attorneys Say Suicides Reveal Desperation, Hopelessness at U.S.-Run Prison Camp

Ali Abdullah Ahmed, Yassar Talal al-Zahrani and Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi. The three men were found dead in their cells at the U.S.-run prison camp at Guantanamo Bay this weekend. According to military officials, the detainees committed suicide by hanging themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothing and died before they could be revived by medical personnel. Two of the men were Saudis, one was from Yemen. They had been held at the prison for up to four years and never charged with a crime. One of the men - 21-year-old al-Zahrani - was first detained when he was a juvenile.

These are the first deaths to have been reported at the prison though there have been literally dozens of suicide attempts since the facility opened in 2002. U.S officials suggested that the suicides were a coordinated protest designed to bring attention to their cause. The Commander of the detention center at Guantanamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, spoke to reporters on Saturday via teleconference.

* Rear Admiral Harry Harris, speaking June 10, 2006.

On Sunday, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Colleen Graffy told the BBC on that the suicides were "a good public relations move" and "a tactic to further the jihadi cause." She went on to say that the men did not value their lives nor the lives of those around them. But these deaths come as criticism of Guantanamo and the conditions there have increased.

There had been 41 previous suicide attempts as well as a camp-wide hunger strikes.

Last month, the United Nations Committee Against torture concluded that Guantanamo should be shut down. And President Bush himself stated in an interview with German television in May that he would like to shut down the detention center. The President repeated this just last Friday even though a new $30 million prison is currently under construction at Guantanamo.

* Joshua Denbeaux, a partner in the law firm Denbeaux and Denbeaux. He represents 2 prisoners being held in Guantanamo and is the co-author of two reports about Guantanamo detainees.
* James Yee, former Army Chaplain James Yee - he authored the standard operating procedure for Muslim funeral and burial rights at Guantanamo Bay. He was posted there in 2002 but less than a year after serving there, he was accused of espionage by the military and faced charges so severe, that he was threatened with the death penalty. Yee was locked away in a Navy prison in Charleston, South Carolina where he spent 76 days in solitary confinement and was subject to abusive treatment. In 2004, the government dropped all charges against him.

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