SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Yemeni held at Guantanamo slashed his wrist and hurled the blood at his lawyer during a meeting at the prison, the attorney said today, describing the incident as a suicide attempt by a psychologically troubled man who should be returned home immediately for treatment.
Adnan Latif used a piece of veneer from a table to saw through a vein in his wrist, holding his arms down beneath the table to disguise his actions from the attorney, an interpreter and guards watching the meeting Sunday over a video monitoring system, lawyer David Remes said.
After Latif threw the blood, guards rushed in and subdued and treated the prisoner, said Remes, of the Washington-based human rights law firm Appeal for Justice, which represents a number of prisoners from Yemen.
The lawyer said Latif is apparently recovering but details of his condition were not known. The detention center’s spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Latif, who is about 33, was captured by Pakistani forces after leaving Afghanistan and was turned over to the United States. Military authorities say he is a suspected member of al-Qaida who fought with the Taliban, but he says he is a victim of mistaken identity and only went to Afghanistan for medical treatment.
He has been held at Guantanamo without charge since January 2002. His lawyer says he is kept in isolation in the psychiatric ward of the prison, claims to hear voices and see ghosts and has repeatedly tried to commit suicide.
“This is a guy who needs treatment, but all they are attempting to do is keep him subdued,” Remes said in an interview from the U.S. base in Cuba, where he was seeking permission to see his client again.
The U.S. holds about 240 prisoners at Guantanamo and has been trying to relocate them following President Barack Obama’s pledge in January to close the prison within a year.
Four prisoners have killed themselves at the base and lawyers claim there have been numerous attempts. The military says many incidents are not actual suicide attempts but merely “self-harm incidents” intended to gain attention.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
