An Afghan prisoner died at the Guantanamo detention center in a recreation yard in an apparent suicide, the US military said on Wednesday.
The prisoner, identified as Inayatullah, a 37-year-old accused of being a member of al-Qaeda, was found dead by guards conducting routine checks at the facility.
“An investigation is under way to determine the exact circumstances of what happened,” said Navy Commander Tamsen Reese, a spokeswoman at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba.
‘UNRESPONSIVE’
The US military’s Southern Command said guards “found the detainee unresponsive and not breathing,” according to a statement.
“After extensive lifesaving measures had been exhausted, the detainee was pronounced dead by a physician,” it said.
Inayatullah is the eighth prisoner to die at the detention center since the US began sending foreign captives with suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban links to Guantanamo Bay in January 2002.
Five others died of apparent suicides and two died of natural causes.
Inayatullah was one of the last captives sent to Guantanamo, where the last publicly announced detainee arrival was in March 2008.
The prison camp has held 779 foreign captives since the US invaded Afghanistan to oust al-Qaeda and its Taliban protectors following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It now holds 171 people.
In March, US President Barack Obama lifted a two-year freeze on new military trials at Guantanamo Bay and suggested the US Congress was hurting US national security by blocking his attempts to move some trials into US civilian courts.
Obama had tried and failed to overcome objections by Republicans and some of his fellow Democrats in Congress to transfer some detainees to US prisons.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service will conduct an investigation after an autopsy by a military pathologist, the military said. Inayatullah’s body will then be prepared for repatriation.
PLANNER
In the statement, the military said Inayatullah admitted to being a planner for al-Qaeda’s terrorist operations and helped to coordinate documentation, accommodations and vehicles to smuggle al-Qaeda fighters through Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq.
Cuba has repeatedly criticized the Guantanamo base, saying it is an illegal enclave on its territory.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was