GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — International condemnation of the Guantanamo prison mounted Tuesday, as lawyers, doctors and ethicists called for changes in the treatment of the reportedly despondent prison population, after three suicides among the terrorism suspects last weekend.
A lawyer who had tried to represent one of the dead men accused the U.S. government of thwarting his efforts with bureaucratic maneuvers and lamented that justice can never be done because for his client, it's "case over."
Charlotte, N.C., attorney Jeff Davis' complaints over the deprivation of legal rights to 30-year-old Mani Shaman Turki Al Habardi Al Utaybi of Saudi Arabia could pressure prison authorities to cease such intrusions, although Davis seemed doubtful.
"The government's behavior puzzles me. I don't have a clue what they will do," said Davis, who added he never dreamed he would see U.S. authorities jailing people without charges and condoning torture.
Al Utaybi was one of the three prisoners found hanging from torn sheets and clothing early Saturday, the first deaths among the 759 men known to have been brought to this secretive detention center on the south coast of Cuba. The bodies of the three men remain at the Naval Hospital morgue here, and the Islamic \o7janaza\f7 funeral prayer was said over the washed and shrouded corpses under the direction of Navy Lt. Abuhena M. Saifulislam, an Islamic chaplain, said Lt. Col. Lora Tucker, a spokeswoman for the prison operation.
Legal scholars and attorneys offering their services to Guantanamo detainees have complained throughout the prison's 4 1/2 year existence that the military has routinely delayed the security reviews necessary to come to the naval base and even canceled attorney-client meetings without explanation.
Davis and a retired colleague, George Daly, filed a legal challenge to Al Utaybi's detention here in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., nine months ago, one of hundreds of writs of habeas corpus filed on behalf of Guantanamo detainees to get U.S. court jurisdiction for the prisoners.
Pentagon officials refused for months to acknowledge that Al Utaybi was at the prison because the lawyers had spelled the detainee's name differently from the prison administration's records. Spellings have varied wildly, even among the military's multiple lists and records.
