Guantanamo: Mass hanging shock

2005-01-25 08:50

San Juan - Twenty-three terror suspects tried to hang or strangle themselves at the United States military base in Guantanamo Bay during a mass protest in 2003, the military confirmed on Monday.

The incidents came during the same year the camp suffered a rash of suicide attempts after Major General Geoffrey Miller took command of the prison with a mandate to get more information from prisoners accused of links to al-Qaeda or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it.

Between August 18 and August 26, the 23 detainees tried to hang or strangle themselves with pieces of clothing and other items in their cells, demonstrating "self-injurious behaviour," the US Southern Command in Miami said in a statement. Ten detainees made a mass attempt on August 22 alone.

US Southern Command described it as "a co-ordinated effort to disrupt camp operations and challenge a new group of security guards from the just-completed unit rotation."

Covering up

Guantanamo officials classified two of the incidents as attempted suicides and informed reporters. But they but did not previously release information about the mass hangings and stranglings during that period.

Those incidents were mentioned casually during a visit earlier this month by three journalists, but officials then immediately denied there had been a mass suicide attempt. Further attempts to get details brought a statement on Friday night, with some clarifications provided on Monday by military officials at Guantanamo Bay and the US Southern Command.

Alistair Hodgett, a spokesperson for Amnesty International's office in Washington, was critical on Monday of the delay in reporting the incident.

"When you have suicide attempts or so-called self-harm incidents, it shows the type of impact indefinite detention can have, but it also points to the extreme measures the Pentagon is taking to cover up things that have happened in Guantanamo," he said.

The military has reported 34 suicide attempts since the camp opened in 2002, including one prisoner going into a coma and sustaining memory loss from brain damage.

Of the 23 men who tried to hang or strangle themselves during the 2003 protest, two required hospital treatment and then were transferred to the psychiatric ward, the military statement said.

Sixteen remain at Guantanamo Bay, while seven were transferred to other countries, the statement said without giving details. Some transferred detainees have been released while others continue to be detained in their native or other countries.

- AP