GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — U.S. military pathologists on Monday examined and tested clinical data obtained from autopsies of three prisoners who were found hanged here Saturday, while human rights advocates warned of the potential for more suicides by prisoners with little hope of release or legal recourse.
Officials of the military prison and interrogation network were reviewing detention procedures to determine what changes might be necessary to avert further suicide attempts and to modify guard routines to prevent prisoners from knowing when they might be observed, said Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, spokesman for the prison and interrogation compound.
Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris' characterization of the suicides as acts of "asymmetrical warfare" and a State Department official's assertion that the first deaths among Guantanamo inmates were "a good PR move" brought renewed outrage in the Muslim world as well as among U.S. allies in Europe.
But Durand said the admiral in command of the detention operations here stood by his view that the deaths "were not acts of despair but coordinated efforts by three committed combatants."
A medical examiner from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology completed the clinical portion of the autopsies Sunday afternoon but analytical work continued, Durand said. He did not know when results of the autopsies would be made public or the cause of death officially established and said those announcements would be made by the Pentagon once the pathology institute in Washington concluded its analysis.
The bodies remained at the naval hospital morgue pending negotiations between the State Department and the home countries of the dead, two of whom were Saudi citizens and the third from Yemen. A U.S. Navy Muslim chaplain was preparing the bodies for prayer rituals and eventual burial. Saudi officials have already expressed their desire to have the remains of Yassar Talal al Zahrani Yassar, 21, and Mani Shaman Turki al Habardi al Utaybi, 30, returned to their homeland.
"The decision for ultimate disposition of the remains is to be determined at a level above us. Our hope is that we have resolution on that soon. We're ready to carry out whatever decision is made," including burial at the Cuzco Wells Cemetery on the naval base if that is what is decided, Durand said.
The deaths and the official commentary on the dead men's motives inspired broad criticism. The fatalities also brought appeals for independent investigation of the detention process here as well as insistence that the prison be closed.
