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Suicide
bids
at
Guantanamo
revealed
Twenty-three
Guantanamo
Bay
detainees
tried
to
hang
or
strangle
themselves
at
the
US
military
base
during
a
mass
protest
in
2003,
the
military
has
confirmed.
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-Qaida
or
the
ousted
Afghan
Taliban
government. Between
18
August
and
26
August,
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
on
Monday. Ten
detainees
made
a mass
suicide
attempt
on
22
August
alone. 'Coordinated
effort' US
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". 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. US
officials
say
the
number
of 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
spokesman
for
Amnesty
International's
office
in
Washington,
was
critical
of
the
delay
in
reporting
the
incident. Interrogation
methods
blamed "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,"
Hodgett
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." Officials
said
they
differentiated
between
a
suicide
attempt
in
which
a
detainee
could
have
died
without
intervention
and
a
"gesture"
they
considered
aimed
only
at
getting
attention. Army
General
Jay
Hood,
who
succeeded
Miller
as
the
detention
mission's
commander
last
year,
has
said
the
number
of
incidents
has
decreased
since
2003,
when
the
military
set
up
a
psychiatric
ward. Incidents
played
down In
2003,
there
were
350
"self-harm"
incidents,
including
120
"hanging
gestures",
according
to
Lieutenant-Colonel
Leon
Sumpter,
a
spokesman
for
the
detention
mission. Last
year,
there
were
110
self-harm
incidents,
he
said. "When
you
have
suicide
attempts
or
so-called
self-harm
incidents,
it
points
to
the
extreme
measures
the
Pentagon
is
taking
to
cover
up
things
in
Guantanamo" "The
Joint
Detention
Operations
Group
continually
assesses
the
camp's
population
for
whom
the
informal
leaders
are,
the
mood
of
the
detainees,
and
their
ability
to
communicate
with
each
other,"
Southern
Command
said
in
a
statement. "That
assessment
has
enabled
the
leadership
to
take
numerous
measures
to
reduce
the
opportunity
for
detainees
to
communicate
a
coordinated
self-harm
incident,
or
strike
out
at
another
detainee
or
the
guard
force." 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.
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