Lawyers acting for the families of deceased Guantanamo Bay prisoners Yasser Al-Zahrani and Mane' Al-Otaibi, intend to ask the United States High Court to call four prison guards to testify in support of their claims that the two Saudi men were tortured to death and had not committed suicide as claimed by the US authorities. Faris Ghazi Al-Otaibi, the cousin of Mane', disclosed that this is what is being planned in a case to be filed in the courts in Washington. The US soldiers have already provided evidence, contained in a Harper's magazine article published on Jan. 18 this year, providing a dramatically different account of the deaths of Al-Zahrani, 22, Al-Otaibi, 30 and a third man, a Yemeni Salah Al-Salami, 37. They all died on June 9, 2006. The US authorities claimed that they had committed suicide by hanging themselves with their bedding and clothing. But the soldiers said that they have evidence that indicates the men were allegedly tortured to death. Al-Otaibi said that the families want the guards to testify to force the American authorities to disclose the details and circumstances surrounding the death of the two detainees and to take action against those responsible. They also want the facility to be closed down for good. Al-Otaibi said he met recently with the team of lawyers handling the case, who confirmed that they were trying to meet the guards. Al-Otaibi said the testimonies of the former guards are an important step toward uncovering the details of the alleged crime. He said the soldiers' accounts of events on that night has exposed the “magnitude of the malpractices and violations” that has been going on at the facility for many years. The detention of prisoners there violates international agreements and treaties on prisoners of war and detainees, he said. “The new confessions support the demands of the detainees' families and of international humanitarian organizations calling for the detention facility to be closed down and detainees released.” Speaking by telephone from his residence in Al-Dawadmi Governorate, Al-Otaibi accused the detention facility's authorities of hiding the truth from the world. He said the new American administration will be a party to a crime if it turns a blind eye to the killing of detainees by torture. He said that the fact that the guards had taken the two men from their cells two hours before the announcement of their deaths, refute allegations that they committed suicide. “The confirmation by the detention facility's guards that Mane' Al-Otaibi and Yasser Al-Zahrani were led from their cells two hours before the announcement of their death, refute allegations that they committed suicide and reveals that they were tortured to death.” Katib Al-Shammari, a lawyer and legal consultant for the families of the Saudi Guantanamo detainees, called on the American side to cooperate in uncovering the details of their deaths.
