One of Guantanamo Suicides Not Informed He Was Scheduled for Release
Bump and Update: Professor Denbaux writes in to say the Guardian was incorrect in reporting that he represented one of the inmates who committed suicide. Here is his e-mail to me:
Everything in your latest post about the Guantanamo detainee who committed suicide unaware that he was one of 141 detainees that the United States had scheduled to be released is correct with one exception. That detainee, Al-Utaybi, was not our client. Apparently a London newspaper reported that Al-Utaybi, was our client without talking to us. The reporter apparently misheard something on BBC. We never spoke to the reporter who started the story. Joshua checked with BBC. BBC had it right.: our client told us that he wanted to die rather than stay in Guantanamo any longer. Immediately thereafter (when we had left) something happened and he was immediately extracted and force fed. The acts which caused the guards to rush in and extract him were never described to us. Fortunately, our client is still alive.
The fact that detainee Al--Utaybi was not our client does not change the horrific loss of life--which would have been avoided if the detainee had been told that the United States government had decided to release him. By the way, none of the 141 on that list have been told that they are to be released. No reason has been given for withholding this light of hope. Joshua beleives that our client may be (he certainly should be) on that list. If so, we want him to know.
The fact that the detainee who died without knowing that the United States had authorized his release certainly destroys the claim by the Deputy Secretary of State and others that he was a dangerous person willing to die to as a publicity stunt. Such a contemptable accusation becomes even worse when it turns out that the government knew that it was false when made.
Bump and Update: One of the three detainees who committed suicide at Guantanamo had been scheduled for release and not yet told.
Mark Denbeaux, an American law professor who represents some of the foreign prisoners at the US-run jail for terrorism suspects in Cuba, told the BBC World Service that Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi was among 141 prisoners due to be released. Mr Utaybi, a Saudi national, had not been informed of being declared "safe person, free to be released" because US officials had not yet decided which country he would be sent to, Mr Denbeaux said.
Mr Denbeaux said his client had killed himself out of hopelessness. "His despair was great enough and in his ignorance he went and killed himself," Mr Denbeaux said, adding that many other Guantánamo detainees felt similarly hopeless.
Original Post, Saturday 6/10/06 9:00 pm
New Report From Guantanamo
I just received this e-mail from Seton Hall Law Professor Mark Denbeaux, who along with his son Joshua, is representing some of the detainees at Guantanamo, inlcuding one of those on a hunger strike.
Joshua and I just returned from Guantanamo this week. One of our clients was forceably extracted during our interview day because he was attempting suicide and required force feeding. He said that he would rather die than stay in Guantanamo and they confiscated our news stories in which Bush announced that he wanted to close Guantanamo. The same detainee who was so depressed that he wanted to die, was prevented from seeing a news story that might have given him hope.
Our client Mohammad Rahman actually has serious health conditions that they will not address. When he was 32 he had a pacemaker installed and he had a heart valve replaced. The valve seems to be leaking again. We have tried to obtain his medical records, to no avail, and to obtain real medical assistance for his heart and other his serious health problems. They provide nothing-- but they will interrupt our client interview to "protect his health and life" by force feeding him.
This was the worst three days of my life. There is a great deal more. Now we hear the government's strident characterizations of these suicides.
The Denbeaux are the primary authors of two prior reports on the detainees (here and here.) They also are putting together the October, 2006 Guantanamo Teach-In.
Here is the list of law schools who have signed up so far to participate. Here is the list of members of the Guantanamo Bar Association.
Related: On June 7, the military released this explanation of detainee force-feeding and medical treatment regulations. The regulation issued June 6 is here. (pdf.)
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