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'Suicides are a cover-up'
17/06/2006 22:56 - (SA)
Riyadh - The Saudi authorities ordered post-mortems on the bodies of two nationals repatriated from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday.
The United States has said the two committed suicide while detained in the prison.
"With our agreement, the authorities ordered post-mortems on the two bodies to establish the real cause of death before they are handed back to us," said Nahez Ghazi al-Otaibi, cousin of dead detainee Maniy bin Shaman al-Otaibi.
The familes of Otaibi and Yasser Talal al-Zahrani had seen the bodies shortly after their repatriation from the prison.
Both families have challenged the US account that the pair, along with Yemeni detainee Ali Abdullah Ahmed, had hanged themselves in their cells.
They say the suicides are a cover-up.
"My cousin was a good Muslim," said Otaibi, in allusion to the religion's prohibition on taking one's own life.
"He was one of the most tortured of Guantanamo detainees because he refused to co-operate with his US interrogators," he said, citing the testimony of former Guantanamo detainees held with him.
"That's why he was banned from writing to his family who received just a single letter from him by mail."
US officials have aroused worldwide outrage by describing the three suicides, the first in Guantanamo since the detention camp's opening in 2002, as "an act of asymmetric warfare" and "a good PR move".
The Pentagon rebuffed calls for an outside investigation into the June 10 suicides, on Tuesday, saying the US military could review the situation itself.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has called for an independent investigation as "a matter of absolute urgency".
- AFP
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