Number of Guantanamo Bay prisoners on hunger strike rises to 75 [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

29/05/06

Number of Guantanamo Bay prisoners on hunger strike rises to 75
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees participating in a hunger strike has ballooned from three to around 75 over the weekend, the U.S. military said Monday, revealing growing defiance among prisoners held for up to 4½ years with no end in sight.

Navy Commander Robert Durand called the hunger strike at the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba an “attention-getting” tactic to step up pressure for the inmates' release and said it might be related to a May 18 clash between detainees and guards that injured six prisoners.

“The hunger strike technique is consistent with al-Qaida practice and reflects detainee attempts to elicit media attention to bring international pressure on the United States to release them back to the battlefield,” Durand said from Guantanamo Bay.

U.S. officials classify detainees as being on hunger strike when they have missed nine consecutive meals.

The U.S. now holds about 460 people at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. But human rights groups say innocent people have been sent to the jail.
(snip/...)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060529.wgitmo0529/BNStory/International/home