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Gitmo Detainee Dead In "Apparent Suicide"
A Guantanamo detainee has died in what the military are calling an "apparent suicide" -- and civil liberties groups are calling for action.
Guards found 31-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Abdallah Salih, known as Al-Hanashi, unresponsive and not breathing in his cell Monday night, U.S. military officials announced, according to the AP.
Al-Hanashi, a Yemeni, had been held without charge at Gitmo since February 2002. Medical records released previously indicate that at one stage he joined a long-running hunger strike to protest his confinement. In December 2005, he weighed about 86 pounds.
The ACLU called in a press release for a "full and transparent investigation" into the circumstances surrounding Al-Hanashi's death. And the Center for Constitutional Rights demanded that Gitmo be closed, asserting in a press release that "conditions at the prison have not improved."
This is the fifth apparent suicide at Guantanamo.*
* This sentence has been corrected from an earlier version.
Josh
Zachary
He starved himself to death?
June 2, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doubt it. They've used force feeding tubes ever since 2005 to end such nonsense before it begins. He must have found a more direct route.
June 2, 2009 8:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
His entry weight was 126 lbs, final weight 84, per some link I saw.
June 3, 2009 5:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Suicide?
I'll believe that when an autopsy is performed by someone without ties to the US Military, or the USA, and who is capable of presenting an honest opinion concerning the cause of death.
The credibility of statements made by the US Military, the US "Intelligence" community, and US politicians, do not stand the laugh test at this point in history.
A suggestion would be a doctor who is NOT Christian, Muslim, or Jewish and is from a country which has not been involved in the USA's war to control the energy resources of the Middle East and Central Asia.
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June 3, 2009 7:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm pretty sure 86 lbs. was his weight in 2005 before they broke the hunger strike (according to this article).
June 3, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh you're right, I misread the article badly.
Is there some reason to believe it was not "natural causes"? They must have some evidence, a suicide note or some physical evidence, in order to suspect suicide.
June 3, 2009 6:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
May God forgive us for what we have done to ruin so many people....many of whom were simply guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This man should not have met this fate.
June 2, 2009 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not we, Kimo sabe; Fratboy and the Devil!
June 3, 2009 4:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
It is "We the People" who are ultimately responsible for the government of the USA. According to the United States Supreme Court, George W. Bush was legally elected in 2000 and he was then re-elected in 2004. At least enough Americans voted for him inj 2004 that the results of that election were doubtful enough for GWB to claim victory and for Al Gore to concede defeat.
Everyone, you, me, and all our neighbors in the USA can claim the credit and the responsibility for not doing enough to change the course of US Government over the last 10 years.
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June 3, 2009 7:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
That is the bitter truth that I have found that very few people will accept. We, as voters, failed our country, and the whole world suffered great damage as a result. When it next comes time to select a new president we all need to keep in mind that there are grave consequences for picking an obviously inept, unintelligent, unqualified person for that job, whether you want to have a beer with him/her or not.
June 3, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
The "have a beer with him" thing was always exasperating on its own terms. He was a loathsome brat in 2000, and he's still one now. Rather throw a beer in his face.
June 3, 2009 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
not unheard of in gulags.
June 2, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank God Obama is going to close this gulag and put an end to these people being held without charges or trials. Oh, wait, that was before his election.
June 2, 2009 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you even imagine being imprisoned for 7+ years with no charges against you, being periodically tortured in an attempt to get you to say what the questioner wants to hear? That is beyond my ability to imagine, but I know I would never last 7 years before taking the easy way out.
If you read this , you realize that Obama is being advised about GITMO by some of the most screwed up people in the military, including the famous Petreus. It is time for Obama to trust his own instincts, and just close that corrupt prison, try those prisoners who can be tried, and release the others. It is the only decent thing to do.
June 2, 2009 11:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Link doesn't work.
But while we're at it, a pretty screwed up person just took over command in Afghanistan as well.
June 3, 2009 2:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488
June 3, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Investigation will show his clothes were sopping wet and he died of suicide.
June 3, 2009 9:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Apparent suicide?
June 3, 2009 9:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm puzzled.
This story was posted yesterday here but I cannot find reference to it anywhere else on the internet as of this hour. Is this in fact a true story or just unreportable because Obama is in Saudi Arabia?
June 3, 2009 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have you ever wondered where the government disposes of the bodies of the 48 plus deaths of people detained in Gitmo or the other sites used for torture or to jail "enemy" combatants? How do we go about that with other countries or the deceased family members? It seems to me that a proper disposal of these people would be extremely difficult and raise the strong reaction from other countires or individuals? If you have some thoughts, please share them.
June 3, 2009 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
the taxi driver in the movie (taxi to the dark side) was returned to his family for a proper burial. if you haven't seen 'taxi to the darkside',you should.
June 3, 2009 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Death occurring during detention: Is that a War Crime, especially as these prisons are so wonderful according to the GOP talking heads?
We obviously need more details and yes an INDEPENDENT ( of military, GOP, CIA, etc) autopsy would be helpful.
In less than 1 month, this is the second death of detainees that we are learning about...the first by "suicide" and now this.
Something seems to be developing, but we have no way of knowing what...but I am sure that there are conspiracy theorists that will be happy to spin this...if only to get to the truth.
June 3, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is simple. Those detainees who do not survive incarceration at GITMO, cannot tell their stories once they are released - if they ever are released.
Expect more "suicides" in the near future.
June 5, 2009 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
....Lawyers who visited Guantanamo in May said he was one of seven prisoners being held in a psychiatric ward and that he was restrained in a chair and force-fed through a tube, indicating he was on a hunger strike....
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/06/03/usyemen-negotiate-return-guantanamo-detainees
....Hanashi reportedly never even saw a civilian lawyer—but he got one in February, and they were supposed to meet for the first time in a few weeks...
....Several reporters were in Guantánamo for military commission proceedings against Omar Khadr, but were not allowed to report on Hanashi’s apparent suicide until they had left the base....
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/06/close-read-a-bad-day-at-guantanamo.html
June 3, 2009 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
The administration's approach is not going swimmingly there, apparently:
June 3, 2009 6:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting:
"In Obama's less than five months in office, the U.S. military has opened communal spaces and started building a new classroom in the prison, and some cell blocks now have satellite television, DVDs and wireless headphones."
This seems to run counter to Obama's statement that he will be closing the Guantanimo detention facility.
Why waste taxpayer money on improvements if it will be closed in the near future?
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June 4, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink