RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 12 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia addressed an official request to U.S. authorities for repatriating the bodies of two Saudi inmates who died in Guantanamo prison in Cuba.
Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdel Aziz was quoted in daily Okaz as saying Monday, "We were informed about the suicide of the Saudi prisoners and in anyway we will know the reasons and asked to recover the bodies to hand them to the families of the deceased."
Nayef stressed that "Saudi efforts are continuing for recovering all the Saudi prisoners in Guantanamo, but at present, we are working on repatriating the bodies."
U.S. authorities announced Sunday the death of three inmates, two Saudis and a Yemeni, who they said committed suicide inside their cells.
The lawyer of the families of Saudi prisoners in Guantanamo, Kateb Fahd al-Shumari, cast doubt on the U.S. story, stressing that the death of the Saudi prisoners "constituted a crime for which the U.S. authorities are responsible."
"The American story which claimed the prisoners committed suicide is a source of suspicion for us, especially that the death occurred under irregular detention conditions as the U.S. authorities conduct close and constant supervision of the prisoners through individual observation and observation cameras around the clock," Shumari said.
There are some 105 Saudi prisoners at Guatanamo, among 450 inmates from various nationalities. U.S. authorities have so far released 21 prisoners who returned to the kingdom.
