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Official Reports of Mr. al Amri's Death

On May 30, 2007, Mr. al Amri died in custody at Guantanamo. On June 20, 2007, the death was deemed a suicide by hanging. Pursuant to a FOIA request initiated by Dr. Jeffrey Kaye regarding documents pertaining to Mr. al Amri's death, the military released a small fragment of a highly redacted Naval Criminal Investigation Service Report, the Final Autopsy Report, and a Toxicology Report. All of these documents were heavily redacted, and raised a number of serious questions, both for Dr. Kaye and for CSHRA, namely:

  • Why were only 64 of the 584 pages of the NCIS report released pursuant to the FOIA request?
  • Why were Mr. al Amri's hands tied behind his back? Is it even possible for someone to do that on his own?
  • How could Mr. al Amri fashion ropes with bedding material which was (or was required to be; see here, p. 7) of a material expressly designed to prevent such uses?
  • How could Mr. al Amri have access, at 1200, to bedding material that was (or was required to be) available to prisoners only from 2200 to 0500?
  • How did Mr. al Amri gain access to a razor? Shaving razors are supplied while showering under strict supervision.
  • If Mr. al Amri had access to a razor, why didn't he use it to slit his wrists? it would be a less laborious and less stressful way to kill himself.
  • How could Mr. al Amri fashion the rope, fix it on the grating, tie his hands, hang himself, and die asphixiated without being noticed by the guards constantly watching over him?
  • Why were some of the strips of cloth fashioned by Mr. al Amri lost or thrown into the medical waste bin?
  • Why was Mr. al Amri tested post-mortem for mefloquine, an anti-malarial drug with psychotic side-effects? Was he administered that drug shorlty before his death even though there has been no malaria in Cuba in recent times?
  • Why weren't prisoners at proximate cells interviewed?

For more questions, background, and interpretation, see Jeffrey Kaye, Cover Up at Guantanamo. Amazon.

CSHRA calls for a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr. al Amri's death.