Guantanamo Bay detention camp suicide attempts

In 2002 the United States government kept conditions at Guantanamo extremely secret, not releasing information about the detainees and especially not their names. That year, the United States Department of Defense (DOD) stopped reporting suicide attempts at the camps.

In mid-2002 the DOD changed the way they classified suicide attempts, referring to these acts as "self-injurious behavior", one of many terms the Bush administration coined to describe camp events. Medical experts outside the camp have argued that doctors did not have sufficient understanding of the detainees to make such conclusions about their intentions or motives.

In the spring of 2003, 32 Afghans and three Pakistanis were released from the detention camp. News media reported from interviews with them that some former detainees described despair and numerous attempts among prisoners to take their own lives, in large part because of individuals' belief in their innocence, the harshness of camp conditions, and especially the indefinite confinement and unending uncertainty they faced.

Quotes from ex-detainees:

{{quote|"I was trying to kill myself", said Shah Muhammad, 20, a Pakistani who was captured in northern Afghanistan in November 2001, turned over to American soldiers and flown to Guantánamo in January 2002. "I tried four times, because I was disgusted with my life."

"We needed more blankets, but they would not listen", he said.{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E7D61238F934A25755C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 | work=The New York Times | title=Threats And Responses: Captives; Tales Of Despair From Guantánamo | first1=Carlotta | last1=Gall | first2=Neil A. | last2=Lewis | date=June 17, 2003 | access-date=May 4, 2010}} The U.S. government denied claims of prisoner abuse at the time, but on May 9, 2004, The Washington Post publicized classified documents that showed the Pentagon had approved interrogation techniques at Guantánamo including sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme hot and cold, bright lights without relief, and loud music.{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A11017-2004May8?language=printer| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010124727/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A11017-2004May8/?language=printer| url-status=dead| archive-date=2018-10-10| title=Pentagon Approved Tougher Interrogations| author=Dana Priest and Joe Stephens| access-date=2006-12-28| newspaper=The Washington Post}}}}

On January 24, 2005 the U.S. military revealed that in 2003, there were 350 incidents of "self-harm" among detainees at Guantanamo. 120 of those incidents were attempts by detainees to hang themselves. From August 18 to 26, 2003, twenty-three detainees participated in a mass-suicide attempt. Reporters noted that numerous attempted suicides occurred after a change in command at the camp resulted in an increase in the severity of interrogation techniques used against the detainees.

On June 10, 2006 the DOD announced that three detainees had died at Guantanamo, saying they "killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact".[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5068228.stm Triple suicide at Guantanamo camp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310160335/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5068228.stm |date=2007-03-10 }}, BBC, June 11, 2006 The prisoners were the Saudi Arabians Mani al-Utaybi and Yasser al-Zahrani, and a Yemeni citizen, Ali Abdullah Ahmed.[http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-06-10T185303Z_01_N10232278_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-GUANTANAMO.xml&archived=False Three Guantanamo detainees die in suicides] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060710034338/http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews |date=2006-07-10 }}, Reuters, June 10, 2006

The prison commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris, Jr. (2006–2007) stated: "This was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetric warfare committed against us."[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2220935,00.html "Three die in Guantanamo suicide pact"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070208064031/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2220935,00.html |date=2007-02-08 }}, The Times, June 11, 2006 Harris also said that the Guantanamo detainees were: "dangerous, committed to killing Americans."[http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/06/11/guantanamo.suicides/ "Suicides spur Guantanamo criticism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613132416/http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/06/11/guantanamo.suicides/ |date=2006-06-13 }}, CNN, June 11, 2006 He claimed that there was a myth among the detainees that if three detainees were known to have died in the camps, the DOD would be pressured to send the rest of the detainees home.

President George Bush expressed "serious concern." Colleen Graffy, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, called the suicides, "a good PR move"—and, "a tactic to further the jihadi cause".[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5069230.stm "Guantanamo suicides a 'PR move'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613144151/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5069230.stm |date=2006-06-13 }}, BBC, 11 June 2006

On June 12, 2006, Cully Stimson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, said:

I wouldn't characterize it as a good PR move. What I would say is that we are always concerned when someone takes his own life, because as Americans, we value life, even the lives of violent terrorists who are captured waging war against our country.[http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=866682006 "Guantanamo inmate killed himself 'unaware he was due to be freed'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615010829/http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=866682006 |date=2006-06-15 }}, The Scotsman, June 13, 2006

The Scotsman characterized this as an attempt by the Bush administration "... to pull back from the earlier comments about public relations and 'asymmetric warfare'."

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the United States State Department, said, "I would not say that it was a PR stunt".{{Cite news|title=Guantanamo suicides 'not PR move'|publisher=BBC|date=12 June 2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5073634.stm|access-date=2006-06-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614225045/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5073634.stm|archive-date=2006-06-14|url-status=live}} He said that the detainees were apparently unaware that one of them was due to be transferred to Saudi Arabia, under terms that would require him to be kept in custody, and another was to be released to Saudi Arabia.

Joshua Denbeaux, a lawyer representing detainees through the Center for Constitutional Rights, has said that prison authorities were withholding this information because US officials had not decided which country the detainee was going to be transferred to. Denbeaux is one of the principal authors of A Profile of 517 Detainees through Analysis of Department of Defense Data (2006), published by the Center for Policy and Analysis of Seton Hall University Law School. It analyzed DOD data about the prisoners' identities and allegations for why they were being detained.

Colonel Michael Bumgarner (April 2005 – June 2006), the commander of the camp's guard force, reacted to the suicides by telling his officers soon afterward: "The trust level is gone. They have shown time and time again that we can't trust them any farther than we can throw them. There is not a trustworthy son of a ... in the entire bunch."[http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/14804763.htm "Guards tighten security to prevent more deaths: Human rights groups, defense lawyers call for investigation of 3 men's suicides in military prison"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620112516/http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/14804763.htm |date=2006-06-20 }}, Charlotte Observer, June 13, 2006

The Associated Press reported that news of the deaths raised skepticism over whether the Saudi men had committed suicide.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna13263481|title=Saudis doubt nationals were suicides at camp|website=NBC News|date=June 11, 2006|access-date=August 8, 2024}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/us/12gitmocnd.html|title=Saudi Arabia Identifies 2 Dead Guantánamo Detainees|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 11, 2006|access-date=August 8, 2024}} The article reports Saudi government and family speculation that the men were driven to suicide by torture. Several prominent Saudis accused the camp authorities of murdering the three men.

It was reported:

Some people in the conservative Islamic kingdom questioned whether Muslim men would kill themselves since suicide is a grave sin in Islam. But defense lawyers and some former detainees said many prisoners at Guantanamo are wasting away in deep despair at their long captivity."

Kateb al Shimri, a Saudi lawyer representing the Saudi prisoners, said: "The families don't believe it, and of course I don't believe it either. A crime was committed here and the U.S. authorities are responsible."

Joshua Denbeaux of the Center for Constitutional Rights said that the suicides: "... represent the Pentagon's absolute worst nightmare."{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10386049 |title=Three suicides reported at Guantanamo Bay |author=Christie, Michael |date=June 11, 2006 |agency=Reuters |newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=October 2, 2011}} Denbeaux added: "... many of these prisoners have been trying to kill themselves, for months, if not years."

Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, commented: "Where we have evidence, they ought to be tried, and if convicted, they ought to be sentenced." Specter added that many of the prisoners' captures were based on: "... the flimsiest sort of hearsay."

Admiral Harris was quoted as saying: "I think it is less about the length of their detention ... It's less about that and it's more that they continue to fight their fight, I think the vast majority of detainees are resisting us."[http://www.enidnews.com/feeds/apcontent/apstories/apstorysection/D8IGUF904.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview "Official: Gitmo Prisoners Waging 'Jihad'"], Associated Press, June 28, 2006[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1117127.ece "Guantanamo Bay suicide prisoners 'showed no sign of being depressed'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711055442/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1117127.ece |date=2006-07-11 }}, The Independent, June 28, 2006

On July 9, 2006 The Jurist reported that DOD spokesmen have claimed that the dead men received assistance from others.[http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/07/doj-tells-court-legal-notes-may-have.php "DOJ tells court legal notes may have aided Guantanamo suicide plot"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711201231/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/07/doj-tells-court-legal-notes-may-have.php |date=July 11, 2006 }}, The Jurist, July 9, 2006[http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060709/D8IOC7NG0.html "Guantanamo Probe Finds Evidence of Plot"], Associated Press, July 9, 2006[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/us/09gitmo.html?ex=1153108800&en=f2619dab30328b27&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY "U.S. Says Inmate Legal Notes May Have Aided Suicide Plot"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115105029/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/us/09gitmo.html?ex=1153108800&en=f2619dab30328b27&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY |date=2013-11-15 }}, New York Times, July 9, 2006 Further, the DOD claims that preparations for the hangings were written on the blank paper issued to the detainees' lawyers. As part of the investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the camp authorities seized almost all the documents from almost all the detainees, a total of half a ton of papers, including their privileged, confidential communications with their lawyers. The administration wants to suspend all lawyers' visits, while a commission reviews the papers for any sign that the detainees' lawyers helped plan the suicides. (Note: The NCIS heavily redacted report was released publicly in August 2008.)

Lawyers for Guantanamo detainees reported that the camp authorities were confiscating detainees' mail and legal papers.[http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/14942051.htm "Guantanamo lawyers say letters seized"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060712174537/http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/14942051.htm |date=2006-07-12 }}, San Jose Mercury, June 30, 2006 The lawyers report that at least one of their clients attributes the confiscation to DOD thinking they might suggest that the suicides were planned, and possibly encouraged, by detainees' lawyers. According to Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of Reprieve, a British organization representing numerous detainees: "They think that they are going to find letters from us suggesting suicide. It's ludicrous."

Bahraini detainee Abdulla Majid Al Naimi, who was released on November 8, 2005, said he knew the three dead men.[http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/06/25/10049187.html "Ex-detainee disputes triple suicide report"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805004415/http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/06/25/10049187.html |date=2009-08-05 }}, Gulf Daily News, June 25, 2006 Al Naimi said that Al-Utaybi and Ahmed were captured while studying in Pakistan. He said that they were interrogated for only a brief time after their arrival in Guantanamo. Their interrogators had told them they were not regarded as a threat, and that they could expect to be released.

The interrogations dealt with them only during the first month of their detention. For more than a year before I left Guantanamo in November 2005, they were left alone. But they were still held in bad conditions in the camp by the guards.

Al Naimi said that Al Zahrani was only 16 when he was captured. Al Naimi thought he should have been treated as a minor. "He was 21 when he died, barely the legal age in most countries, and was merely 16 when he was picked up four and half years ago. His age shows that he is not even supposed to be taken to a police office; he should have been turned over to the underage [juvenile] authorities."

{{main|Guantanamo Bay homicide accusations}}

Guantanamo Bay murder accusations were made by United States sources in December 2009 and January 2010 regarding the deaths of three Guantanamo prisoners in June 2006 at the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp for enemy combatants at its naval base in Cuba. Two of the men had been cleared by the military for release. The United States Department of Defense claimed their deaths at the time as suicides, although their families and the Saudi government argued against the findings. The DOD undertook an investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Following release of the redacted NCIS investigative report in 2008, Seton Hall University Law School's Center for Policy and Research published Death in Camp Delta (2009), a report criticizing the NCIS account for inconsistencies and weaknesses. The Center concluded that there was serious negligence at the camp, or there may have been cover-up of homicides resulting from torture. It noted that no military personnel had been prosecuted for any failings related to the deaths of the detainees.

{{cite web

| url = http://law.shu.edu/about/news_events/releases.cfm?id=79165

| title = SETON HALL LAW RELEASES LATEST GTMO REPORT, "DEATH IN CAMP DELTA"

| publisher = Seton Hall University School of Law (press release)

| date = 2009-12-07

| access-date = 2013-02-07

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130215140949/http://law.shu.edu/about/news_events/releases.cfm?id=79165

| archive-date = February 15, 2013

| url-status = dead

}}

In 2010, Harper's Weekly and NBC News released the report of a joint investigation, based on accounts by four former Military Intelligence staff, stationed at the time at Guantanamo. The article written by Scott Horton, a journalist and human rights attorney, suggested the military under the Bush administration had covered up deaths of the detainees that occurred under torture at a "black site" in the course of interrogations.

{{cite magazine

| url = http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368

| title = The Guantánamo "Suicides": A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle

| first = Scott

| last = Horton

| magazine = Harper's Magazine

| date = 2010-01-18

| access-date = 2010-01-18

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100120013228/http://harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368

| archive-date = 2010-01-20

| url-status = live

}}

In 2011, Horton's article on the Guantanamo events won the National Magazine Awards for Reporting.Foreign Policy: [http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/10/six_questions_for_scott_horton_author_of_the_guantanamo_suicides?page=full Six Questions for Scott Horton] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710131053/http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/10/six_questions_for_scott_horton_author_of_the_guantanamo_suicides?page=full |date=2014-07-10 }}. The award revived a round of criticism of the article's veracity.Adweek: [http://www.adweek.com/news/press/national-magazine-award-and-guant-namo-tall-tale-gets-prize-131768 The National Magazine Award and Guantánamo: A Tall Tale Gets the Prize] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216015410/http://www.adweek.com/news/press/national-magazine-award-and-guant-namo-tall-tale-gets-prize-131768 |date=2013-12-16 }}.Time: [https://nation.time.com/2011/05/23/flaws-exposed-in-guantanamo-article-that-won-magazine-award/ Flaws Exposed in Guantanamo Article that Won Magazine Award] .

In 2006 and later, defense attorneys were concerned about their clients' mental health. Mark Denbeaux is a law professor at Seton Hall University and director of its Center for Policy and Research, which had published numerous reports on conditions at Guantanamo. He represents two Tunisian detainees and said in June 2006 that he was worried that other detainees were candidates for suicide.

{{cite news

| url = https://www.foxnews.com/story/detainees-commit-suicide-in-protest-at-guantanamo

| title = Detainees Commit Suicide in Protest at Guantanamo

| agency = Associated Press

| date = 2006-06-11

| access-date = 2010-02-28

| quote = Denbeaux said one of his clients, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, appeared to be depressed and hardly spoke during a June 1 visit. Rahman was on a hunger strike at the time and was force-fed soon after, Denbeaux said. 'He told us he would rather die than stay in Guantánamo,' the attorney said. 'He doesn't believe he will ever get out of Guantánamo alive.'

| publisher = Fox News Channel

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110207134813/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199013,00.html

| archive-date = 2011-02-07

| url-status = live

}}

In 2008 the Canadian Supreme Court ordered the release of a video of a February 2003 interrogation conducted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was 15 years old when captured and one of the youngest detainees held at Guantánamo. In the video, the 16-year-old Khadr repeatedly cried, saying what sounds to be either "help me", "kill me," or calling for his mother, in Urdu (Pakistani).

{{Cite news

| url=http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/07/15/what-exactly-did-omar-khadr-say-help-me-kill-me.aspx

| title=What exactly did Omar Khadr say? 'Help me,' 'kill me'? (UPDATED 7 p.m. ET)

| work=National Post

| date=2008-07-15

| access-date=2008-07-25

| quote=[The audio appears to be Mr. Khadr saying 'Kill me' repeatedly as well as saying 'Help me' occasionally. A native Arabic speaker told Reuters that he believed he was saying 'Ya ummi' meaning, 'My mother.'

| url-status=live

| archive-url=https://archive.today/20080726014326/http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/07/15/what-exactly-did-omar-khadr-say-help-me-kill-me.aspx

| archive-date=2008-07-26

}}

{{Cite news

| url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080715.w2khadr15/BNStory/International/home

| title = Omar Khadr: The interrogation

| work = The Globe and Mail

| author = Colin Freeze, Katherine O'Neill

| date = 2008-07-16

| access-date = 2008-07-25

| quote = The most widely circulated footage showed Mr. Khadr breaking down in a room by himself, repeatedly saying something that sounded like "kill me, or ya ummi [Oh Mom]," after ripping off his orange jumpsuit.

| location = Toronto

| url-status = dead

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080724111110/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080715.w2khadr15/BNStory/International/home

| archive-date = 2008-07-24

}}

{{Cite news

| url = http://news.therecord.com/News/article/383513

| title = Interrogation video shows sobbing Omar Khadr

| publisher = Kitchener-Waterloo Record

| author = Colin Perkel

| date = 2008-07-16

| access-date = 2008-07-25

| quote = Later in the tape, a distraught Khadr is seen rocking, his face in his hands. 'Help me,' he sobs repeatedly. He also appears to say 'Kill me.'

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081205124110/http://news.therecord.com/News/article/383513

| archive-date = 2008-12-05

| url-status = live

}}

The government was reviewing CSIS actions in its interrogations of Canadian citizens at Guantanamo, including the minor Khadr, as more information had been revealed about abuse of detainees prior to interrogations.[https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2009/07/16/csis_failed_in_khadr_case_review_finds.html "CSIS failed in Khadr case, review finds"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064030/http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2009/07/16/csis_failed_in_khadr_case_review_finds.html |date=2016-03-04 }}, Toronto Star, Jul 16 2009, accessed 9 February 2013 Khadr was finally scheduled to be tried at Guantanamo in 2010. He pleaded guilty in a plea bargain, served a year of his sentence there, and in 2012 was returned to Canada to serve the rest of his sentence.

The Southern Command announced on the evening of May 30, 2007 that a Saudi prisoner had died of suicide.

{{Cite news

| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002126.html

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102031432/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/30/AR2007053002126.html

| url-status=dead

| archive-date=November 2, 2012

| title=Saudi prisoner kills self at Guantanamo, U.S. says

| author=Jane Sutton

| publisher=Reuters

| date= May 30, 2007

| access-date=2007-05-30

| author-link=Jane Sutton

}}

{{Cite web

| url = http://www.southcom.mil/appssc/news.php?storyId=414

| title = Detainee death at Guantanamo

| publisher = Department of Defense

| date = May 30, 2007

| access-date = May 30, 2007

| url-status = dead

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070920193809/http://www.southcom.mil/appssc/news.php?storyId=414

| archive-date = September 20, 2007

}}

They announced: "The detainee was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell by guards." The DoD did not immediately release the dead man's identity. The DoD asserted that his body would be treated with cultural sensitivity.

On May 31, 2007 Saudi officials announced that the dead man was Abdul Rahman Maadha al-Amry.

{{Cite news

|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070531-0735-guantanamo-suicide.html

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104154751/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070531-0735-guantanamo-suicide.html

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=January 4, 2013

|title=Saudi Arabian Guantanamo detainee dies in apparent suicide

|author=Michael Melia

|work=San Diego Union Tribune

|date=May 31, 2007

|access-date=2007-05-31

}}

The Associated Press reported that same day that al-Amry had been identified as one of the "high-value detainees", held in Camp 5.

{{Cite news

| url=http://www.cfnews13.com/News/International/2007/5/31/u.s._dead_detainee_was_of_high_value.html

| title=U.S.: Dead Detainee Was of High Value

| date=May 31, 2007

| publisher=Central Florida News

| access-date=2007-05-31

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194411/http://www.cfnews13.com/News/International/2007/5/31/u.s._dead_detainee_was_of_high_value.html

| archive-date=2007-09-27

| url-status=dead

}}

{{Cite news

| url=http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?selected=Situation%20Reports&sitrep=1&id=289508

| title=U.S.: Guantanamo Suicide Was "High-Value" Inmate

| publisher=Stratfor

| date=May 31, 2007

| access-date=2007-05-31

}}

{{dead link|date=March 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald reported his name as Abdul Rahman Ma Ath Thafir Al Amri and that he was a military veteran of the Saudi army.

{{Cite news

| url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/124352.html

| title=Dead Gitmo captive was Saudi military veteran

| author=Carol Rosenberg

| date=May 31, 2007

| publisher=Miami Herald

| access-date=2007-05-31

| author-link=Carol Rosenberg

}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} He had never been allowed to meet with an attorney.

Other newspaper reports commented on the timing of the death, pointing out that it was almost a year after the three deaths of June 10, 2006, which DOD had reported as suicides. The press noted that these incidents in 2006 and 2007 had followed a new commander taking over JTF-GTMO. In addition, the deaths had occurred before the convening of a military commission to judge detainees' cases.

{{Cite news

| url=http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/05/31/ap/international/d8pfdrkg0.txt

| archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111225725/http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/05/31/ap/international/d8pfdrkg0.txt

| url-status=dead

| archive-date=January 11, 2013

| title=U.S.: Dead Detainee Was of High Value

| author=Michael Melia, AP

| date=May 31, 2007

| publisher=Casper Star Tribune

| access-date=2007-05-31

}}

{{Cite news

| url=http://news.bostonherald.com/international/americas/view.bg?articleid=1004009&format=text

| publisher=Boston Herald

| date=May 31, 2007

| title=Saudi Arabian Guantanamo detainee dies in apparent suicide

| access-date=2007-05-31

}}

{{dead link|date=February 2017|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In 2017, FOIA documents on the investigation into the death of Al Amri revealed that he had been found hanging in his cell with his hands tied in a "snug" fashion behind his back. According to the clerk in charge of the computer logs that tracked detainee movements, Al Amri had been with an interrogator in the hour prior to his death. But other witnesses told NCIS the interrogation had been cancelled that morning, either by the interrogator, or by Al Amri himself. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigator that examined the death scene found it difficult to understand how this prisoner could have killed himself in the time allotted while he was under surveillance. NCIS concluded Al Amri had stood upon a folded bed mattress in order to reach the air vent to which he presumably attached the rope of his jerry-rigged noose (made from bed sheets). The air vent itself was over eight feet above the floor of the cell. Despite the fact that the detainee had not supposedly met with an attorney, documents from the NCIS investigation state there were materials of a confidential attorney-client nature in Al Amri's possession at the time of his death, and these were turned over to the Judge Advocate's Office at Guantanamo.

{{Cite news

| url = https://medium.com/@jeff_kaye/new-foia-documents-show-guantanamo-suicides-unlikely-72ff098fe745

| title = New FOIA Documents Show Guantanamo Suicides Unlikely

| author = Jeffrey Kaye

| publisher = Medium.com

| date = October 12, 2017

| access-date = 2017-11-29

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034503/https://medium.com/@jeff_kaye/new-foia-documents-show-guantanamo-suicides-unlikely-72ff098fe745

| archive-date = 2017-12-01

| url-status = live

}}

Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi, a 31-year-old prisoner from Yemen, died in the camps on June 1, 2009. On June 2, 2009 the DOD reported that he committed suicide.

{{Cite news

| url = https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVbNZcN5Ks9DDeoPRHAwXW576ClwD98IPSG01

| title = Military: Gitmo detainee dies of apparent suicide

| date = 2009-06-02

| author = David McFadden, Danica Coto

| publisher = Associated Press

| archive-url = https://archive.today/20240524094447/https://www.webcitation.org/5hEzITI0j?url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVbNZcN5Ks9DDeoPRHAwXW576ClwD98IPSG01

| archive-date = 2024-05-24

| url-status = dead

}}

{{Cite news

| title = Yemeni Detainee Dies In Apparent Suicide

| newspaper = The Washington Post

| date = June 3, 2009

| access-date = June 27, 2009

| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060203930.html

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121108094725/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/02/AR2009060203930.html

| archive-date = 2012-11-08

| url-status = live

}}

A number of journalists were at the camp to cover a military commission for Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who is the youngest detainee and the last western citizen to be held there. (Note: He was returned to Canada in 2012 after a plea bargain, to continue serving his sentence.) The camp authorities did not allow journalists to report news of Al Hanashi's death until after they had left Guantanamo.

According to documents released via Freedom of Information Act in 2016, Al Hanashi died by tearing off a piece of elastic underwear and strangling himself to death. Attempts by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to understand the timeline of events leading up to the death were complicated by the fact that someone at Guantanamo told staff in the Behavioral Health Unit where Al Hanashi was found to turn off all computer logging of events that were then occurring. NCIS was never able to determine who had ordered the database logs shut down. Al Hanashi had made multiple suicide attempts in the month or so prior to his death, and even been put on suicide watch at least once. The description of his underwear type did not comport with other reported rules about the kinds of clothing allowed for Guantanamo inmates. At least one camp staff member interviewed by NCIS said they were surprised when they saw the deceased Al Hanashi wearing clothing that had not been approved. According to the FOIA documents, Al Hanashi was considered a leader among the other detainees, and the day he died had complained to the Chief of the Behavioral Health Unit about proposed changes in the rules governing punishment in that unit. He also complained about being tortured on the day he died, and wrote in a final note that he was very upset when his report was ignored, and said he didn't want to live anymore.

DOD announced that Inayatullah, 37, an Afghan detainee held since 2007 on suspicion of being a member of Al Qaeda, was found dead on May 18, 2011, an apparent suicide.{{cite news| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guantanamo-death-idUSTRE74I04I20110519 | work=Reuters | first=Kevin | last=Gray | title=Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo dies in apparent suicide | date=May 19, 2011}} The press reported that his given name is Hajji Nassim, according to his attorney.[http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/28/116659/latest-guantanamo-prison-camp.html Carol Rosenberg, "Latest Guantánamo prison camp suicide was 'indefinite detainee'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130330165454/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/28/116659/latest-guantanamo-prison-camp.html |date=2013-03-30 }}, Miami Herald, at McClatchy website, 28 June 2011, accessed 3 January 2013, mirror He was referred to as Inayatullah only at the Guantanamo camp. He was arrested in Iran near the border with Afghanistan, and was classified by DOD as an "indefinite detainee."

• Prisoner suicide
• Guantanamo Bay homicide accusations
• Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi—a detainee who was tortured while in CIA custody, was reported to have committed suicide after being repatriated to Libyan custody.

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20171024234418/http://law.shu.edu/programscenters/publicintgovserv/policyresearch/upload/gtmo_death_camp_delta.pdf Death in Camp Delta], Seton Hall University School of Law, Center for Policy and Research, supervised by Prof. Mark Denbeaux – Analysis of June 2006 Suicide Investigation by NCIS
• [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/law-school-study-finds-ev_n_382085.html Scott Horton, "Law School Study Finds Evidence Of Cover-Up After Three Alleged Suicides At Guantanamo in 2006"], Huffington Post, 7 December 2009
• [http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368 Scott Horton, "The Guantánamo "Suicides": A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle"], Harper's Magazine, January 2010
• [http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=USA&article=3123 William Fisher, "Guantanamo deaths in 2006 won't go away"], The Arab American News,

5 June 2010

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090830200058/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/index.html Guantanamo detainees], U.S. documents release under FOIA, a substantial sample

{{WoTPrisoners|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp Suicide Attempts}}

Category:Suicide in the United States

Category:Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States

Suicide Attempts