Guantanamo Food Protests Increase
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – More Guantanamo Bay detainees have joined a hunger strike, raising the total to 89, and six of them were being forcefed, the U.S. military said yesterday.
The strike – which last weekend jumped to 75 participants from three – is now the biggest of the year at the American prison in Cuba, where about 460 men are being held on suspicion of links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.
The U.S. military said the detainees were trying to pressure America to release them, but a human rights attorney described the strike as a desperate appeal for justice.
Six hunger strikers were being forcefed, Navy Commander Robert Durand said – two more than last weekend.
“All are being closely monitored by the … medical staff and being counseled on the health effects of longterm hunger striking,” Commander Durand said in a statement from Guantanamo Bay.
