Three captives at the Guantánamo Bay Navy Base detention center in Cuba died early this morning of ''apparent suicide,'' the U.S. military said this afternoon.
The reported suicides of two Saudi citizens and a Yemeni man are the first detainee deaths at the prison camp and are likely to increase international pressure to close the controversial camp, opened in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They come just weeks after a brawl at the center and four attempted suicides.
According to a statement from the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, the three detainees were ''unresponsive and not breathing'' when guards found them in their cells early this morning.
The names of the dead were not released, but the State Department was notified and was said to be in discussions with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Lawyers for detainees at the camp expressed outrage -- but little surprise -- at the deaths, noting a surge in suicide attempts among the men, some of whom have been held for four and a half years without being charged.
''Nobody should be even slightly surprised by this,'' said Josh Colangelo Bryan, who represents a detainee who attempted suicide in October. He said one of his clients told him, ``I would simply die than live here forever without rights.''
http://www.guantanamo.org.uk/
According to a statement from the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, the three detainees were ''unresponsive and not breathing'' when guards found them in their cells early this morning.
The names of the dead were not released, but the State Department was notified and was said to be in discussions with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Lawyers for detainees at the camp expressed outrage -- but little surprise -- at the deaths, noting a surge in suicide attempts among the men, some of whom have been held for four and a half years without being charged.
''Nobody should be even slightly surprised by this,'' said Josh Colangelo Bryan, who represents a detainee who attempted suicide in October. He said one of his clients told him, ``I would simply die than live here forever without rights.''
http://www.guantanamo.org.uk/
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