United States: The United States military has opened an investigation into the suicides of three prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, amid mounting international pressure to close the detention centre. President George W Bush expressed "serious concern" about the deaths but Rear Adm Harry Harris, commander of Guantánamo, said the suicides represented an attack on America.
"They are smart, they are creative, they are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us," he said.
Adm Harris said a guard "noticed something out of the ordinary" in a cell early on Saturday and discovered one man had hanged himself. When they checked on other detainees, guards found two others had hanged themselves as well, using nooses "made out of their clothing material and bed sheets".
There have been 41 suicide attempts at Guantánamo since the detention centre opened four years ago, but none had been successful until Saturday. The three men who died, one from Yemen and two from Saudi Arabia, had taken part in a hunger strike and had been force-fed through tubes inserted into the nose. All three left suicide notes written in Arabic.
Adm Harris claimed the suicides were co-ordinated, adding that there is a "mythical belief" that the Guantánamo detention centre would be shut down if three detainees die.
New York lawyer Josh Colangelo-Bryan, who represents several of the 460 inmates at Guantánamo, said the suicides were a response to the hopelessness of the prisoners' situation. "These men have been told they will be held at Guantánamo forever. They've been told that while they're held there they do not have a single right," he said.
Only 10 of those held at Guantánamo have been charged before military tribunals, and recently released documents indicate many have never been accused even in administrative proceedings of belonging to al-Qaeda or of terrorist acts.
Amnesty International blamed the Bush administration for the suicides, describing Guantánamo as an indictment of America's deteriorating human rights record. "By rounding up men from all over the world and confining them in an isolated penal colony without charge or trial, the United States has violated several US and international laws and treaties," the organisation said in a statement.
During a press conference with Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen last Friday, Mr Bush said he would like to close Guantánamo and revealed the US had been negotiating with other countries to repatriate detainees.
Mr Bush said some detainees should face trial in American courts once the Supreme Court made a decision on whether terrorist suspects should be tried in military or civilian courts.
"We would like to end Guantánamo . . . And we're now in the process of working with countries to repatriate people. But there are some that, if put out on the streets, would create grave harm to American citizens and other citizens of the world. And, therefore, I believe they ought to be tried in courts here in the United States," he said.
Saturday's suicides at Guantánamo are likely to increase pressure from Washington's allies to close the detention centre. The deaths come in the wake of a report from the Council of Europe last month that accused a number of European countries, including Ireland, of colluding with the US in creating a web of secret, illegal prisons throughout the world.