Saudi detainee at Guantanamo commits suicide

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO —  A Saudi Arabian detainee died Wednesday at Guantanamo Bay prison, and the U.S. military said he apparently committed suicide.

Guards at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba found the detainee in his cell unresponsive and not breathing, the military’s Southern Command said in a statement.

“They tried to save his life but he was pronounced dead,” said Mario Alvarez, a Miami-based spokesman for the Southern Command.

It would be the fourth suicide at Guantanamo Bay since the prison opened in January 2002. On June 10, 2006, two Saudi detainees and one Yemeni hanged themselves with sheets.

Details, including the prisoner’s name and the manner of death, were not released.

A spokesman for detention operations, Navy Cmdr. Rick Haupt, declined to comment, referring questions to the Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The death came as the military prepared to try two detainees: Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, and Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was captured in a firefight with U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Their arraignment is scheduled to proceed as planned Monday at Guantanamo Bay, said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

Khadr on Wednesday fired his American lawyers, leaving him without defense counsel as his arraignment approaches, his former U.S. military lawyer said.

“He doesn’t trust American lawyers, and I don’t particularly blame him,” said Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who was taken off the case.

“The United States is responsible for his interrogation and his treatment under a process that is patently unfair.”

The military toughened security at the prison after the previous suicides and an uprising last spring, taking measures to remove access to light fixtures and other possible weapons.

About 380 men are held at the isolated prison on suspicion of links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting an ongoing investigation into the three previous suicides.

A cultural advisor was helping the military handle the remains.

“The remains of the deceased detainee are being treated with the utmost respect,” the military said.