World - AP Latin America
Guantanamo Detainee Attempts Suicide
Tue Apr 1, 6:43 PM ET
By FRANK GRIFFITHS, Associated Press Writer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A terror suspect attempted suicide at Guantanamo
Bay Naval Base in Cuba and was being treated at detention camp's
new
psychiatric ward, officials said Tuesday.
The man was saved by guards within seconds of the attempt in his
cell late
Monday, Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said.
There have been 24 suicide
attempts by 17 individuals since detainees began
arriving at the remote naval base in eastern Cuba in January 2002,
officials said. None has been successful.
Johnson refused to provide
further details of the suicide attempt but said
that "most of them are by self-strangulation."
He said that
the detainee did not suffer "significant injury" and
remains
under observation in psychiatric facility, which opened March 23.
The
new ward has 20 detainees staying there, he said. Officials have
denied
that the 35-bed ward was created solely in response to suicide
attempts,
saying it is part of planned improvements to health care.
Military
doctors are treating about 80 detainees for mental health
problems, with 60 percent receiving medication, officials said.
Human rights groups have asked whether the interrogations were
contributing
to the suicide rate.
The U.S. government says the roughly 660 detainees
from 42 countries are
suspected of links to al-Qaida terror network or the ousted Afghan
Taliban
regime. None have been charged or permitted lawyers while they
are held
indefinitely and interrogated.
