US News
Guantanamo hunger strikes at year long high
Apr 9, 2007, 0:44 GMT
Washington - Thirteen inmates at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are current engaged in hunger strikes, which is believed to be the highest number of prisoners refusing nourishment in a year, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Citing military officials and lawyers for the prisoners, the newspaper said that hunger strikers are monitored too closely to be allowed to lose weight.
Since early 2006, Guantanamo guards have been force-feeding hunger strikers, who are restrained in chairs and fed through nasal tubes. After the practise began, hunger strikes had declined until recently.
Lawyers representing Guantanamo prisoners say that the new hunger strikes are motivated by discontent over a maximum-security wing into which about 160 inmates, about one third of the population, have been moved since December, the Times reported.
US Navy Commander Robert Durand, a Guantanamo spokesman, told the Times that the prisoner complaints were 'propaganda.'
Prisoners in Guantanamo were captured mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan during the so-called war on terrorism. The US government has said that it would like to close the prison but has struggled with what to do with the inmates, many of whom are not wanted by their own governments.
'We don't have any rights here, even after your Supreme Court said we had rights,' Saudi prisoner Majid al-Joudi said, according to medical records obtained by the Times. 'If the policy does not change, you will see a big increase in fasting.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in US
- 1. Mitt Romney Addresses Tea Party Summit Pictures
- 2. Seven injured as US Navy plane crashes into apartments
- 3. At least three injured in US Navy plane crash
- 4. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, others to face death penalty trial
- 5. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, four others to face death penalty trial
Older Talkback
page: 1
Fasting is healthy: It prevents diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and atherosclerosis. I encourage everyone to follow these inmates' example.
Why am I still paying taxes for these muslim terrorists to bathe, eat, play soccer, have clean uniforms everyday, grow obese, and live as they never lived in their own homelands!
I HOPE YOU DIE TODAY MUSLIM TERRORIST!
Guantanamo Bay IS A COUNTRY CLUB and if General Patton were alive he would personally go there and shoot each of them himself!
It is not a prison, but a miminum security facility.
Someone please tell me where is the prison for western hostages??
I forgot, THEY MURDER ALL THEIR PRISONERS SO WHO NEEDS A PRISON!
Islam=Satanism.
page: 1
SP4: Good.Apr 9th, 2007 - 01:02:22
You don't have to eat...
Report this comment