Saudi suspicion over Guantanamo deaths

Reuters

RIYADH — A lawyer for Saudi nationals imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay said yesterday that he held US authorities responsible for the deaths of Saudi prisoners. He implied the inmates were tortured to death.

The UK’s constitutional affairs minister joined calls for the jail camp to be shut down.

Three inmates, a Yemeni and two Saudis, allegedly hanged themselves in their cells at the base on Saturday night, according to the US army.

A Saudi official disputed allegations of suicide, hinting that inmates might have been tortured. Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally, said it was stepping up efforts to repatriate all nationals held at the base in Cuba.


“We are doing all we can to bring the bodies of the two victims home,” a Saudi interior ministry spokesman said. He declined to say if Riyadh would ask for an investigation into the deaths.

The three men, who allegedly hanged themselves with clothes and bedsheets, were the first prisoners to die at the base since the US began holding “terrorism” suspects there in 2002.

“Our priority now is to repatriate the bodies of the victims and to step up our efforts to bring back all Saudis detained there,” the interior ministry spokesman said. “Each Saudi has to be brought home where he can face up to charges he is accused of based on our laws and regulations.”