Rise in X-Ray suicide attempts came with new general

Three months after a get-tough US general took command of the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects, prisoners began a flurry of suicide attempts, according to military records.

Major General Geoffrey Miller took over as commander at Guantanamo in November 2002 after interrogators criticised his predecessor for being too soft.

Between January and March 2003, 14 prisoners at the US base in Cuba tried to kill themselves, according to Pentagon figures.

That is more than 40% of the 34 suicide attempts by 21 inmates since the prison was opened in January 2002.

Miller is now in charge of all military-run US prisons in Iraq, a job he took after news broke of beatings and sexual humiliations last fall at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Miller had visited Abu Ghraib in August and September and recommended interrogation techniques that military lawyers said had to be modified to comply with the Geneva Conventions on treating prisoners of war.

Human rights groups say the suicide attempts at Guantanamo Bay may be evidence that conditions there amounted to torture.

The US government calls the men “enemy combatants”, similar to traditional prisoners of war but not subject to the guarantees of the Geneva Conventions against torture and other abuses.

The administration contends their treatment nevertheless is in compliance with the conventions.

“Our concern is that the totality of the conditions at Guantanamo – starting with the prolonged detention without trial, combined with the frequent interrogation that may have included problematic methods – may have contributed to an atmosphere that pushed people to attempt suicide,” said Alistair Hodgett of the human rights group Amnesty International.

Miller and other military officials deny that.

“All detainees are treated humanely,” said Guantanamo military spokesman Major David Kolarik.

He said all prisoners are treated “in accordance with the principles” of the Geneva Conventions “to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity”.