Officials report suicide of Guantánamo detainee

A Yemeni detainee at Guantánamo Bay who had been on a long hunger strike apparently committed suicide late Monday, military officials said Tuesday. The death was the first at the prison since President Obama took office, and detainees' lawyers said it would focus new attention on conditions at the detention camp. The detainee, 31, was identified as Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh al Hanashi, who has been imprisoned since 2002 at the naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Pentagon officials said he was a Taliban fighter who claimed at the camp that he had never killed anyone. A terse announcement from the Pentagon described the death as an "apparent suicide" and said guards "found the detainee unresponsive and not breathing" while doing routine checks. It did not disclose a specific cause of death but said lifesaving measures had failed. A spokesman for the Pentagon, Jose Ruiz, would not provide details, saying the Naval Criminal Investigative Service was investigating. Mr. Ruiz said an autopsy would be performed but added, "at this time they believe it was a suicide." David H. Remes, a lawyer who represents 16 other Yemeni prisoners at Guantánamo, said that Mr. Hanashi had been one of seven prisoners kept in a psychiatric ward at the prison and that he had been force-fed in a restraint chair. Mr. Remes said all the detainees in the psychiatric ward were kept under sedation. Guantánamo records show that Mr. Hanashi's weight at one point fell to 87 pounds. Although the death is the first in the Obama administration, there have been five prior deaths at the camp, including four suicides. After three detainees killed themselves in June 2006, the commander at the time, Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., drew international attention by asserting that "this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us." Another detainee committed suicide in May 2007, and a detainee died of cancer in December 2007. Shayana Kadidal, a lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has coordinated Guantánamo cases, said the death of a psychiatric patient raised questions about the quality of care and would increase pressure on President Obama, who has said he would close the prison by January. "Every day that passes makes it more likely that people will die in detention on President Obama's watch," Mr. Kadidal said. Obama administration officials have said that the camp is now a well-run prison that complies with international standards. But detainees' lawyers and human rights groups say that conditions there remain bleak, with many detainees held in solitary confinement. Mr. Remes, the lawyer with other Yemeni clients, said many prisoners are desperate. "They harbored some hope," he said, "that President Obama would move swiftly to resolve the situation, but they can't see any progress so far or any light at the end of the tunnel." During a visit last month, one of Mr. Remes's Yemeni clients cut his wrist and hurled the blood at Mr. Remes. Prison officials said they did not classify that as a suicide attempt. Many Yemeni detainees have been caught in an international standoff. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been reluctant to return them to Yemen because of security concerns. Since President Obama took office, two Guantánamo detainees have been released. Of the remaining 239 detainees, 96 are Yemeni. After seven years of imprisonment, Mr. Hanashi had only recently been given a lawyer and, other lawyers said, had yet to meet with the legal team. One of the lawyers, Eric P. Gotting, would not comment. Much that is known of Mr. Hanashi was provided by military officials at his hearings at Guantánamo. They said he had ties to Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an Iraqi Kurd now at Guantánamo who intelligence officials say was a top aide to Osama bin Laden. The military officers said Mr. Hanashi had been seriously wounded by gunfire in Afghanistan in 2001 during a prison uprising against Afghan allies of the United States.