Number of prisoners on hunger strike in Guantanamo Base increases
MAXIMUM military authorities at the U.S. prison on the illegally held Guantánamo Naval Base, acknowledged March 24 that the number of prisoners on hunger strike has increased to 26. The prisoners’ protest is against their indefinite incarceration and violations to which they are subjected within the detention center.
Ship’s Captain Robert Durand, Guantánamo spokesman, corroborated in a terse statement that eight of the 26 hunger strikers are being fed by tube.
He stated that this represents a slight increase in relation to March 21, when 25 prisoners were on hunger strike; the 19th and 20th, when there were 24; and the 18th, when they totaled 21.
Durand added that two detainees were hospitalized to be re-hydrated, observed and subsequently fed by tube.
Attorney David Remes, legal representative for 15 of the hunger strikers, described this action as unprecedented in its magnitude, duration and determination.
The protest began February 6, after "a routine inspection." The prisoners denounced that the guards checked their Korans, the sacred book of Muslims, in an action they considered "a religious profanation."
The check provoked anger among the detainees, already subjected to harsh disciplinary measures, indefinite confinement, the constant checking of their belongings and the confiscation of copies of the Koran.
On March 14, 45 lawyers of the detainees sent an open letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, warning of "the serious consequences" which could result from this mass hunger strike, and demanding action to facilitate an end to the protest.
