JEDDAH, 14 June 2006 — As the suicide of three Guantanamo detainees re-ignites the debate over the legitimacy of an offshore US prison facility, the lawyer for two Tunisian detainees told Arab News yesterday that the reaction of US officials to the deaths on Saturday has added insult to injury.

“It’s horrifying what this woman said and totally against dignity and lacks humanity,” said lawyer Joshua Denbeaux, referring to US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy’s comments to the BBC that the suicides were “a good PR move.”

“I understand the administration wants to back away from the comment,” added Denbeaux, who represents detainees Mohammad Rahman and Rafik Al-Hami.

US Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris also added to the controversial reactions by saying he believed the suicides were an act of provocation. “They are smart. They are creative. They are committed. They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own,” said Harris to the media after news of the deaths broke. “I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.”

These comments have attracted condemnation among critics and the European press. France’s Le Monde said the rear admiral’s comment, “illustrates the gulf which separates American authorities from the rest of the world on this sinister question.”

Denbeaux also dismissed the rear admiral’s remarks by pointing out to Arab News yesterday that the inmates at Guantanamo haven’t had access to media coverage and therefore would have had no idea how their deaths would have been portrayed posthumously.

“How can they describe it as asymmetric warfare when not one of these detainees have any contact with the outside world?” said Denbeaux. “They have no connections whatsoever.”

The lawyer, who recently visited his clients but admits that it is very difficult to do so, said morale among the prisoners is low and that his client Mohammad Rahman, who allegedly suffers from a life-threatening heart ailment and has a pacemaker, has himself attempted suicide.

Denbeaux said he attempted to provide a news printout to the detainees showing President Bush’s comments indicating his willingness to consider shutting down the prison but he was prohibited from doing so.

“We wanted to show a simple news printout to our clients but they just wouldn’t let us,” he said. About 460 people have been in detention since early 2002, during which numerous hunger strikes and suicide attempts have been reported.

As rumors abound on details that led to the detainees’ deaths, family members of the detainees interviewed by Arab News continue to express frustration at the legal limbo in which their relatives have languished.

“What more will it take?” asked one relative of a detainee who did not want to be identified. “We are asking for a fair trial. Is that much to ask?”

Sulaiman, the brother of another detainee who did not want to provide his full name, said some letters sent to his bother in Cuba did not reach him. “We sent a letter to inform him of the death of a close relative,” said Sulaiman. “Judging from the letters we received from him the news of the death of his relative never reached him.”

Saudis from different walks of life decried the comments made by the US officials.

“Whether their deaths are suicides or not is besides the point,” said a political science professor at one of the Kingdom’s universities who did not want to be identified. “These young men were in the wrong place at the wrong time — hostages of injustice: no trial, no prosecution and yet victims of indefinite and unclear imprisonment.”

Umm Ahmad, a Madinah social worker and mother of five sons, all in there 20s, said she sees a double standard. “Why is it that Western lawyers and embassies always have access to their prisoners accused and held in other countries?” said Ahmad

Abu Fahd, 66, a retied Saudi officer, said he was disgusted by the comments of the US officials. “When Arab or Muslim land or issues are defended, it’s terrorism,” said Fahd. “And now even when our young men are driven to death, it’s a ‘PR move’ or ‘asymmetrical warfare.’”

Saleh Omar, 24, said he believed that a feeling of despair rather than a public relations stunt provoked the suicides. “If I were locked up and abused without an end in sight, who knows? Maybe I would consider suicide,” he said.