Yemen Guantanamo detainee attempts to kill himself

Gulfnews.com
by Nasser Arrabyee
May 15, 2009

Sana’a: A Yemeni Guantanamo detainee attempted to kill himself while in a meeting with his American lawyer in detention, lawyers said Monday.

“Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif attempted to commit suicide during my meeting with him this morning,” his lawyer David Remes told Gulf News from Guantanamo.

The meeting between Remes and his client Abdul Latif took place on Sunday, May 10.

“Without our noticing, he chipped off a piece of the stiff veneer on the underside of our conference table and used it to saw into a vein in his left wrist.”

“As he sawed, he drained his blood into a plastic container and, shortly before it was time for me to leave; he hurled the blood at me from the container.”

“It must have been a good deal of blood because I was drenched from the top of my head to my knees, including my face and arms, and I took a good splash in my right eye,” Remes added.

Remes, who represents 16 of the nearly 100 Yemenis remaining there, called upon both governments of Yemen and US to return Abdul Latif to his family.

Abdul Latif is being held in the Psychiatric Ward. The tube-feeding has brought his weight up to 120 pounds. He is now being force-fed in bed, not in a “restraint chair”, said Remes.

“For humanitarian reasons, I implore the US and Yemen to arrange for Adnan’s immediate return to Yemen. His family understands that he needs treatment, and they are standing ready to help him,” he said.

“Adnan is a very sick man, physically and psychologically. He should be receiving treatment. The only ‘treatment’ he is receiving from the US, however, is to keep him subdued - by drugs if possible, and by force if necessary - so he can continue to be held as a captive without causing disturbance. This is inhumane by any standard.”

Remes, the Legal Director of the Appeal for Justice, a Human Rights and Civil Liberties Litigation Firm, also said he would be asking the court this week to allow him and his colleague lawyers to send an independent physician and psychiatrist to Guantanamo to examine, Abdul Latif.

Abdul Latif has been languishing in the detention for about seven years.

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