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Fingernail used to cut throat
05/12/2007 10:47 - (SA)
Guantanamo Bay - A prisoner slashed his throat with a sharpened fingernail last month, spilling a lot of blood but surviving, a US military commander said on Tuesday.
Guantanamo Bay guards administered first-aid and took the prisoner to the prison clinic, Navy Commander Andrew Haynes, the deputy commander in charge of the guard force, said.
"There was an impressive effusion of blood," Haynes told reporters visiting the base. He would not disclose the man's name or nationality. A medical officer, who could not be identified under military rules for journalists, said the prisoner received several stitches and spent a week under psychiatric observation.
Zachary Katznelson, of the British rights group Reprieve, said he was one of two lawyers representing the prisoner and identified him as an Algerian who has been held at Guantanamo without charges for nearly six years. The detainee was to meet with one of his lawyers for the first time this week.
Katznelson said he could not release the man's name without his consent.
'Self-harm'
There have been four suicides since the US opened the military prison at Guantanamo in January 2002 for men suspected of involvement in terrorism or links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Haynes said he doubted the latest incident was a real suicide attempt, and characterised it instead as an act of "self-harm".
The incident occurred while the man was taking his daily five-minute shower in early November, around the time when more than two dozen journalists were visiting Guantanamo for a military court hearing.
Haynes said there have been up to half-dozen "self-harm incidents" in the two months he has been assigned to Guantanamo Bay. He described suicide as a "paramount tactic" used by prisoners to discredit US forces. But defence lawyers and human rights groups say the suicides are a result of the prisoners' despair.
Many of the 305 men held at Guantanamo have been there for more than five years without charge. The military has said it plans to prosecute up to 80 of the prisoners.
In another development, a Guantanamo prison manual from 2004 that was posted anonymously on the internet on Tuesday indicated that some detainees were prevented from having any contact with representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The military said it could not immediately confirm the document's authenticity.
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