UPDATE Friday Hart's death now confirmed. Attorney who worked with him claim not related to his Gitmo work. See statement. He had not been to the base for months but not sure what that means.
Earlier: This hasn't been confirmed elsewhere (update: as of Thursday morning), but Jason Leopold at Truthout reports that a well-known federal public defender for Gitmo prisoners for several years, Andy Hart of Toledo, 38, has killed himself. Nothing has been announced and Leopold has no details on where this happened, so stay tuned for confirmation of death, and if suicide. Hart "apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Hart left behind a
suicide note and a thumb drive, believed to contain his case files. It
is unknown where Hart died, what the suicide note said or whether an
autopsy was performed.
"Hart’s death comes amid escalating chaos that has engulfed Guantanamo
over the past three months—from a mass hunger strike to military
commissions and renewed pressure on the White House to shut down the
prison facility. Hart was one of three-dozen Guantanamo attorneys who signed a letter in March urging Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to take immediate action and bring about an end to the hunger strike."
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