GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - A Guantanamo Bay prisoner slashed his throat with a sharpened fingernail last month, spilling a lot of blood but surviving, a U.S. military commander said Tuesday.| Now that's one impressive suicide attempt. Sharpened fingernail? Props. |
There have been four suicides since the U.S. opened the military prison at Guantanamo in January 2002 for men suspected of involvement in terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban. Many of the 305 men held at Guantanamo have been there for more than five years without charge. The military has said it plans to prosecute up to 80 of the prisoners.
Haynes said he doubted the latest incident was a real suicide attempt, and characterized it instead as an act of ``self-harm.'' The incident occurred while the man was taking his daily five-minute shower in early November, around the time when more than two dozen journalists were visiting Guantanamo for a military court hearing.
Haynes said there have been up to half-dozen ``self-harm incidents'' in the two months he has been assigned to Guantanamo Bay. He described suicide as a ``paramount tactic'' used by prisoners to discredit U.S. forces. But defense lawyers and human rights groups say the suicides are a result of the prisoners' despair.