RIYADH, 22 June 2007 — A Saudi team recently visited Guantanamo Bay prison, the Saudi Interior Ministry said yesterday. The team members, who made the visit on an invitation from the US authorities, met with the 53 Saudi detainees and observed the conditions of their imprisonment. The ministry statement did not provide details about the members of the visiting team.
The visit was made as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to bring the detainees home. The team members were reassured about the prisoners’ conditions after holding several meetings with prison officials, the spokesman said. They also explained to the officials how detainees are treated in the Kingdom, the report added. The officials urged Guantanamo officials to make arrangements for the speedy transfer of the detainees to the Kingdom for their trial in line with Saudi law.
Early this month a Saudi detainee Abdul Rahman Al-Amri, 34, was found dead in his prison cell. US military officials say it as a case of suicide.
Al-Amri is the fourth detainee to commit suicide at the detention camp that currently holds about 380 men the US government calls “enemy combatants”, a category specifically created by the Bush administration for these detainees so that Washington can avoid abiding by laws related to prisoners of war.
Three other prisoners — Saudi nationals Yasser Al-Zahrani, 21, and Manie Al-Otaibi, 26, and Yemeni national Ali Ahmed, 26 — allegedly hanged themselves with clothing and bed coverings in their cells on June 10, 2006.
