JURIST - Paper Chase: Guantanamo detainees desired martyrdom: US Navy investigators

[JURIST] Officials from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) [official website] said Friday that notes found in the clothes of three Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide [JURIST report] in 2006 indicated that they were seeking martyrdom. Military investigations of the suicides began [JURIST report] immediately after the two Saudi and one Yemeni men were found in their cells, and the military quickly rejected calls for independent civilian investigations. The military similarly rejected requests by the governments of Yemen and Saudi Arabia [JURIST reports] to reform the investigation process. The NCIS has now reportedly closed the investigation. AP has more.

Military officials said that the three detainees, who hanged themselves using nooses made from sheets and clothes, had participated in hunger strikes and were among those who had been force-fed [JURIST report]. None of the detainees had previously attempted suicide. Reacting to the deaths, rights groups condemned prisoners' continued indefinite detention at Guantanamo. Amnesty International [advocacy website] said the deaths "are the tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention" and should serve as "an indictment on [Guantanamo's] deteriorating human rights record." The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website], which represents several hundred detainees, called for the detainees to "be taken to court or released."

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