Guantanamo inmate ‘slashes wrists’
Inmate reportedly hurls his own blood at US lawyer during meeting at US prison.
Latif earlier alleged in a letter to his lawyer, obtained by Al Jazeera, that abuse has continued at the facility since Barack Obama, the US president, came to power.
Four prisoners have killed themselves at the Guantanamo prison camp and lawyers claim there have been several additional attempts.
However, the US military says many incidents are not actual suicide attempts but merely “self-harm incidents” intended to gain attention.
On his second day in office, Obama ordered the closure of the prison, which has been heavily criticised by rights groups over reports of ill-treatment of detainees.
He also ordered that prisoners held there, who currently number around 230, be treated in line with the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the abuse of detainees.
Abuse claims
Remes is quoted by Gulf News as saying that Latif, who has been held in Guantanamo without charge for seven years, is “a very sick man, physically and psychologically” and needs to be returned to his family in Yemen.
Latif is apparently now recovering from his self-inflicted injuries but details of his condition are not known and officials at Guantanamo have made no comment, the Associated Press reports quoting Remes.
Latif, who is about 33 years of age, was captured by Pakistani forces after leaving Afghanistan and handed over to US authorities.
Military authorities say he is a suspected member of al-Qaeda who fought alongside the Taliban, but he says he is a victim of mistaken identity and only went to Afghanistan for medical treatment.
Latif alleged in a letter to Remes last month that since Obama took office, “oppression has increased, torture has increased and insults have increased”.
That letter emerged two days after another inmate, Mohammad al-Qurani, told Al Jazeera in an exclusive phone call that he had been mistreated even after Obama’s pledge to end abuse at Guantanamo.