By Wire services
Published June 12, 2006

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - One of the detainees who committed suicide at a U.S. prison in Cuba had been cleared for transfer to another country, a second was involved in a 2001 prison uprising in Afghanistan where a CIA agent died, and a third had ties to al-Qaida, the Pentagon said Sunday.

The Department of Defense identified the three as Saudi Arabians Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi and Yassar Talal Al-Zahrani and Yemeni Ali Abdullah Ahmed. The two Saudis were also identified earlier by Saudi officials.

The three hanged themselves with nooses made from sheets and clothing early Saturday, bringing renewed pressure on the United States to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. About 460 men are held there, almost all of them without charge.

Utaybi had been recommended for transfer before his suicide, the Defense Department said in a statement. It did not name the country but said he would have been under detention there as well.

Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention center, said he did not know whether Utaybi had been informed about the transfer recommendation before he killed himself.

The U.S. military accused Utaybi, 30, of being a member of a militant missionary group, Jama'at Al Tablighi.

U.S. authorities allege Ahmed, 28, was a mid- to high-level al-Qaida operative who had key ties to principal facilitators and senior members of the group. Throughout his time in Guantanamo, he had been noncompliant and hostile and was a long-term hunger striker from late 2005 to May 2006, the Defense Department said.

Zahrani, 21, was accused by the U.S. of being a front-line fighter for the Taliban who facilitated weapons purchases for offensives against U.S. and coalition forces. He was allegedly involved in the prison uprising.

None of the three had been formally charged.

While U.S. officials argue the suicides were political acts aimed at hurting American standing in the world, human rights activists and former detainees say prisoners are desperate after years in captivity and view suicide as the only way out even though Islam forbids it.

Until now, Guantanamo officials have said there have been 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees and no deaths since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend the number of attempts is higher.

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