AP: More Gitmo Detainees Join Hunger Strike

[Eugene]

More Gitmo Detainees Join Hunger Strike

By MICHAEL MELIA, Associated Press Writer

Monday, January 8, 2007

(01-08) 15:28 PST SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) --

The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees participating in a hunger strike has more
than doubled in recent weeks to 11, including five who are being force-fed, the U.S.
military said Monday.

Military officials describe the hunger strike as an attempt to build public sympathy
and opposition to the detention center, which on Thursday marks its fifth anniversary
of existence at the isolated U.S. military base in Cuba.

"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," said Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a Guantanamo
Bay spokesman.

A Human rights group said the strike reflects prisoners' despair.

"I don't see it as at all curious that they should be desperate enough to starve
themselves," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/08/international/i152839S55.DTL

[951-Riverside]

1. I think they are starving these prisoners n/t