23 Previously Unreported Attempted Suciides at Guantanamo in 2003
The Government has disclosed that during a 2003 mass protest at Guantanamo, 23 detainees attempted sucide. The Government did not advise the media of these attempts when disclosing past incidences:
The incidents came during the same year the camp suffered a rash of suicide attempts after Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller took command of the prison with a mandate to get more information from prisoners accused of links to al-Qaida or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered it.
Between Aug. 18 and Aug. 26, the 23 detainees tried to hang or strangle themselves with pieces of clothing and other items in their cells, demonstrating "self-injurious behavior," the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said in a statement. Ten detainees made a mass attempt on Aug. 22 alone.
The military had this explanation today:
U.S. Southern Command described it as "a coordinated effort to disrupt camp operations and challenge a new group of security guards from the just-completed unit rotation."
How can prisoners be disruptive when they're dead? Alistair Hodgett of Amnesty International had this response:
"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.
"What we've seen is that it wasn't simply a rotation of forces but an attempt to toughen up the interrogation techniques and processes."
Today the military provides these numbers:
In 2003, there were 350 "self-harm" incidents, including 120 "hanging gestures," according to Lt. Col. Leon Sumpter, a spokesman for the detention mission. Last year, there were 110 self-harm incidents, he said.
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