Lawyer blames US for Guantanamo suicides

File photo dated February 10, 2002 of a detainee brought out to exercise by a US Army MP at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray in Cuba. Three "war on terror" prisoners being held at the Guantanamo prison camp apparently committed suicide by hanging, the US Defence Department said Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally, said it was stepping up efforts to repatriate all nationals held at the base in Cuba.

An Interior Ministry statement identified the two Saudis as Manei al-Otaibi and Yasser al-Zahrani but gave no further details about them. A Yemeni man also committed suicide.

"We are doing all we can to bring the bodies of the two victims home," a Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman told Reuters, but declined to say if Riyadh would ask for an investigation into the deaths.

The three men, who hanged themselves with clothes and bedsheets, were the first prisoners to die at the base in Cuba since the United States began holding "terrorism" suspects there in 2002.

"Our priority now is to repatriate the bodies of the victims and to step up our efforts to bring back all Saudis detained there," the Interior Ministry spokesman said.

"Each Saudi has to be brought home where he can face up to charges he is accused of based on our laws and regulations."

He said there were up to 103 Saudis detained at the naval base, which holds about 460 foreigners captured mainly in Afghanistan where the United States has fought the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The detainees' deaths renewed criticism of the base, which many human rights groups say should be closed. Nearly all the prisoners at Guantanamo, in Cuba, are being held without charge and some have been held for more than three years.