More awful news out of the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba:
Four Guantanamo prisoners tried to commit suicide on Thursday and several others attacked guards who rushed in to halt one of the attempts, a camp spokesman said.
Three took overdoses of prescription medicine they had apparently been hoarding, and the fourth tried to hang himself, said Cmdr. Robert Durand, a detention camp spokesman. None of the suicide attempts succeeded, he said.
The attempted hanging took place in a medium-security camp where prisoners live in groups of up to 10 men in long bays lined with metal cots. When guards entered the unit, roommates "tried to prevent them from rescuing the detainee by using fans, light fixtures and other items as improvised weapons," Durand said.
After fours years of captivity in a tropical steam bath, no contact with their families, little contact with a lawyer, no trial, no prospects for a trial to prove their guilt or innocence – just never-ending captivity, suicide must seem like the only way out of this nightmare. Today the UN Committee Against Torture called on the US to close the prison at Guantanamo and disclose the location of the CIA "Black Sites" where detainees are being held in secret:
The committee said it was "deeply concerned" that detainees were being held at the prison camp in Cuba for protracted periods without proper legal safeguards or reliable judicial justification.
The ten members of the UN Committee Against Torture also called upon President Bush to end the use of torture and cruel treatment in interrogation of detainees, citing sexual humiliation, mock drownings and the use of dogs to induce fear.
The Bush administration has nothing but contempt for international organizations such as the United Nations (except when it wants sanctions against Iran), so undoubtedly this report will be dismissed as a pathetic effort of "terrorist appeasers".
UPDATE Murat Kurnaz: Turkish Press is reporting that Bremen-born Kurnaz is the only remaining Turkish national left in Guantanamo. Is Bush punishing "Angela" for calling for the closure of the base last February?
UPDATE Al-Masri: As I predicted a few days ago, the complaint by German citizen Khaleed Al-Masri against the CIA for his unlawful abduction, rendition and torture has been dismissed in a US federal court. "Das Bundesgericht in Alexandria bei Washington wies die Klage Masris mit der Begründung ab, der Fall berühre zu schützende "Staatsgeheimnisse". Mit einem Verfahren würden für die USA sicherheitsrelevante Informationen öffentlich, erklärte das Gericht als Begründung für die Klageabweisung. "
UPDATE Reaction from German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Silence.
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Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a few other NGOs, have designated June Torture Awareness Month. I’ve created a blogroll you can join if you’re interested. You can find it at my “homepage”. The idea is that everyone is linked to from the blogroll, and in exchange, you discuss torture (as you already do), and link to the Torture Awareness site to help support the NGOs.
There’s a lot of bloggers concerned about human rights abuse in the War on Terror. If we coordinate, we can show our support and help Amnesty and HRW make Torture Awareness Month a success!