Study blames Guantanamo guards for suicide

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. military study blames guard lapses and lenient policies for prisoner suicides at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Documents from a Naval Criminal Investigative Service probe suggest that three simultaneous suicides June 10, 2006, were the result of "lapses in guard protocol and of lenient policies toward compliant detainees," The Washington Post reported Saturday after obtaining results from a Freedom of Information Act request.

Ali Abdullah Ahmed Naser al-Sullami, 26, of South Yemen, along with Saudi Arabians Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, 22, and Mana Shaman Allabard al-Tabi, 32, planned their hangings carefully say the documents. Investigators found that guards became lax on some rules, rewarding more compliant detainees with extra T-shirts, blankets and towels. Detainees were then allowed to hang the items to dry. Eventually they were sometimes used to obscure their cells while sleeping.

Sullami's attorney, David Engelhardt, blamed conditions at Guantanamo and U.S. policies for the suicides.

"It's simply astounding that it took the government over two years to conclude a so-called investigation of three men who died in a small cage under the government's exclusive control," he said. "The investigation itself is what needs to be investigated, along with the people who've perpetrated the disgraceful, extra-constitutional detentions."