Original source:
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called on Wednesday for a full and transparent investigation into the recent death of a Yemeni national held at the US prison camp on Guantanamo Bay.
US military officials reported on Tuesday that alleged Taliban fighter Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh al-Hanashi had committed suicide on Monday.
Mr Hanashi had been held without charge at Guantanamo Bay since February 2002.
His death is the fifth apparent suicide at the camp, which US President Barack Obama has pledged to close by January next year.
ACLU national-security-project lawyer Ben Wizner observed that ‘tragic deaths like this one have become all too common in a system that locks up detainees indefinitely without charge or trial.’
Mr Wizner demanded an ‘immediate, independent and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding this apparent suicide and the conditions of confinement at Guantanamo.’
And he insisted that detainees against whom there is legitimate evidence ‘should be tried in our federal courts not in the reconstituted military commissions now being proposed.’
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