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Father Queries Guantanamo Suicide
June 14, 2006
BBC News Online
The father of one of three inmates said to have committed suicide at the US prison camp at GuantanamoBay has said he believes his son was murdered.
"This idea of suicide is a lie. My son wouldn't commit suicide," said Ali Abdullah Ahmed, father of a Yemeni detainee found dead on Saturday.
The US insists they killed themselves and is awaiting final medical reports.
The apparent triple suicide has drawn renewed criticism of Guantanamo and calls for it to be shut down.
A US official's claim that the three had committed suicide as a public relations stunt or an act of "asymmetric warfare" drew international condemnation.
The US military identified the Yemeni who died as Ali Abdullah Ahmed, but the Al Jazeera TV channel, which broadcast the interview, said that was the father's name, and that the son was known as Salah Ali.
He was found dead along with two Saudis, hanged with clothes and bedsheets in their cells. They were the first Guantanamo inmates to die since the first al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects arrived in 2002.
No trial
"I reiterate that neither my son nor any other Muslim would ever commit suicide," said Ali Abdullah.
"My son was among those who memorised the Koran and was committed to his religion."
He told Al Jazeera: "He was assassinated by American soldiers and I call on the Yemeni and American governments for an international investigation."
The US has described the three inmates as "dangerous enemy combatants".
However, human rights groups say the US has little or no evidence against many of those at GuantanamoBay.
Dozens of prisoners have been released without charge, but others have been held for up to three years without being charged or facing trial.
The US has not yet decided what will happen to the three dead men's bodies. Mr Abdullah said he wanted his son's body returned home.
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