Testimony of a block guard

NCIS Investigation into the first three deaths at Guantanamo
June 15, 2006

The passage below is part of a sworn statement made by a Block Guard assigned to the cell block holding the first three detainees to die in custody. It states that nothing was found that the detainees could have hanged themselves with in any of the cells of the entire block hours before their death. Consequently, this testimony casts doubt on the official version of the events surrounding said deaths.

This testimony was made to the NCIS investigators and was included in the public version of their report.

The shift I worked Block Guards conducted cell sertches of all the cells on Alpha Block. We did not discover anything that a detainee could hang himself with. We did not find anyweapons either. I heard rumors that the detainees bound their hands and feet and then hung themselves with altered sheets. I searched cell 5 but I did not find anything that would allow the detainee in cell 5 to hang himself in the manner of the rumors. I did not see any hanging blankets in cell 5. My recollection is that they were folded on the bunk. I took them and shook them loose refolded them and put them back on the bunk. I may have searched dells 8 and 12 but I do not remember. These cell searches were done between 1400 and 1700.