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Guantanamo detainees 'planned mass suicide'
Guantanamo detainees were found with pills stuffed into the waistbands of their pants and in one case, inside a prosthetic leg, weeks before three prisoners hanged themselves, a doctor at the camp hospital said on Tuesday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 June 29, 2006
Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base: Guantanamo detainees were found with pills stuffed into the waistbands of their pants and in one case, inside a prosthetic leg, weeks before three prisoners hanged themselves, a doctor at the camp hospital said on Tuesday.
Guards found nooses in other prisoners' cells after the three deaths, said Rear Admiral Harry Harris, who oversees the detention operation.
He said the stashed pills and nooses indicated other prisoners planned to take part in coordinated suicides, something some have acknowledged. "They continue to look for ways to make their point or fight their fight," Harris said.
American military officials have implemented new measures aimed at preventing suicides since the prisoners killed themselves, an event that intensified pressure on Washington to close the controversial prison at a remote US naval base in Cuba.
The prisoners received new uniforms and new bed mattresses, and are being watched more closely while taking medication.
Two Saudis and a Yemeni hanged themselves with clothes and bedsheets in their cells on June 10.
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is preparing a potential landmark ruling that could determine the fate of the military tribunals created by President George W. Bush to try Guantanamo prisoners for war crimes.
'POLITICAL ACT'
Inmates who died passed psychological test
Three Guantanamo Bay detainees who hung themselves in their cells received psychological exams only days prior to their suicides and showed no signs of being depressed, a military doctor said.
The doctor suggested the exams, performed one to two weeks before the June 10 suicides, supported assertions by military officials that the prisoners killed themselves as a political act not because they were despondent about their prolonged detention.
- AP
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