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New detainees held at Guantanamo Bay
From Mike Mount
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- About two dozen detainees who had been held in Afghanistan arrived at U.S. detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to Pentagon officials. The prisoners, the first to arrive at the base since late last year, arrived by air to the remote U.S. Navy outpost Friday afternoon and will join the other 625 detainees held because of a suspected role supporting the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Taliban, which harbored terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, was ousted as part of the U.S.-led war on terrorism following the September 11, 2001 attacks. The arrivals bring the number of detainees to about 650 at what the military calls Camp Delta, a secure prison camp at the U.S. military base at the base known as Gitmo. The United States has kept detainees at Guantanamo Bay for more than a year, releasing only a handful because of mental unfitness or because interrogations by U.S. officials cleared them, according to the Pentagon. Human rights watchdog group Amnesty International has accused the United States of depriving detainees of their basic human rights, accusations disputed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Amnesty says the U.S. government has arbitrarily imprisoned the detainees and has denied them "the right to humane treatment, to be informed of reasons for detention, to have prompt access to a lawyer, to be able to challenge the lawfulness of the detention, and to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise." Other violations the group has listed include prolonged solitary confinement, heavy shackling, and lack of adequate exercise. Series of suicide attempts at campRecent suicide attempts by some of the detainees has drawn attention to the camp. On Thursday, the Pentagon officials said the fourth detainee in the past three weeks attempted suicide. The detainee is not in serious condition after trying to hang himself, the official said. In the first attempt, on January 16., a detainee also tried to hang himself. He remains in serious condition at the base's hospital facility, the official said. Prior to the recent incidents, there have been 11 suicide attempts by detainees in the past year, and none has succeeded. Of the 15 total attempts, all but two were attempted hangings, said the official, who would not comment on those other two. Officials said there is no apparent link among the most recent suicide attempts. Procedures at Guantanamo Bay are being reviewed to determine if any changes are required, a Pentagon official said. While U.S. military officials at the base would not specify the procedures nor describe what is specifically under review, they said security and mental health teams are working together to monitor the detainees.
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