US Sends Home Bodies of Three Guantanamo Suicides

VOA News

The U.S. Defense Department says it has sent to their home countries the bodies of three detainees who committed suicide at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Defense officials made the announcement Friday, six days after authorities said the three hanged themselves in their cells.

Two of the men were from Saudi Arabia, and the other from Yemen.

The suicides brought renewed calls for the Bush administration to resolve the status of the more than 400 detainees being held there.

President Bush has said he would like to close the facility, but that the detainees are dangerous terror suspects and must be dealt with in court.

He said he is waiting on a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the detainees can go before a military tribunal.

The detainees are mainly suspected al-Qaida and Taleban members captured after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. Scores of detainees have been repatriated, while many others are eligible for release or transfer.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.