Month: May 2013

Attempt to Break the Hunger Strike at Gitmo

See also discussion in BooMan’s fp story – Our Schizophrenic Country.

Prisoners, guards clash over Guantanamo Bay raid

(AP) Apr. 13, 2013 – The confrontation came a day after a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross finished a three-week visit to Guantanamo to meet with prisoners and assess conditions.

“The ICRC continues to follow the current tensions and the hunger strike at Guantanamo very closely and with concern,” spokesman Simon Schorno said. “If necessary, an ICRC team will in coming days return to Guantanamo to assess the situation of the detainees on hunger strike in view of this latest development.”

Camp 6 had previously been a section of the camp reserved for detainees who followed prison rules. In exchange they were allowed to share meals and pray together, have nearly round-the-clock recreation time as well as access to satellite TV, computer games and classes. It held a majority of the 166 prisoners at the base before the hunger strike began, but the military said the number was down to fewer than 70.

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Tensions had been high at the prison for months. Lawyers for prisoners said a hunger strike began Feb. 6 in protest over their indefinite confinement and what the men believed were tighter restrictions and intrusive searches of their Qurans for contraband.

Video Dispatch – ICRC President on ICRC-US Relationship, Guantanamo

ICRC president reiterates his call for the administration and the US Congress to urgently find a way to resolve all pending humanitarian, legal and policy issues relating to the detention of persons held at Guantanamo Bay.  

Dianne Feinstein Urges Obama to Transfer Cleared Guantanamo Detainees

(Rolling Stone) – In a letter this week, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) called on the Obama administration to “renew its efforts to transfer 86 detainees” held at Guantanamo who have been cleared to be moved by a review board. The letter, addressed to National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, references the ongoing hunger strike at the prison complex – now officially at 97 individuals – and says “their belief that there is no end in sight for them” is contributing to this “growing problem.”

Fifty-six of the cleared men are from Yemen, according to The New York Times, but an Obama administration moratorium on transferring detainees to that country has effectively killed any hope of their leaving Guantanamo.