Saturday, April 27, 2013

Official number of Guantanamo Bay hunger strikers jumps to 100...

The official number of hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay reached 100 on Saturday – three more than the day before. Twenty of the detainees are receiving enteral feeds, five of whom are being observed in a detainee hospital.

Lawyers for the detainees contest the official numbers, saying that some 130 prisoners are actually taking part in the protest. The hunger strike began around February 6, when detainees claimed prison officials searched their copies of the Koran for contraband, according to their attorneys.

Prisoners are also protesting their extrajudicial incarceration at the prison. Most of Guantanamo Bay’s 166 detainees have been cleared for release or were never charged, a situation that has prompted criticism from human rights organizations.

“The illegal detentions without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay have gone on for more than a decade with no end in sight, so it’s not surprising that detainees feel desperate,” counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch, Laura Pitter, said in a statement. Full story...

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  2. America cannot assert moral authority while Guantánamo remains open...
  3. I’ve been detained at Guantánamo for 11 years and three months...
  4. Clash over hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay...
  5. Guantánamo prisoners exert their final leverage...
  6. Deprived of justice, the Guantánamo detainees' last resort is to hunger strike...
  7. Blackout TV: US media turn blind eye to Gitmo hunger strike...

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