Guantanamo Bay hunger strike grows; 41 now being force-fed
By Peter Finn
June 8, 2013

The number of hunger strikers being force-fed by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has risen to 41, with the protest showing no signs of abating more than a week after President Obama renewed his commitment to close the detention facility.

The military said in a statement Thursday that 103 detainees are on hunger strike and that 41 of them are being force-fed. The military also said four detainees who are being force-fed are being observed at the hospital.

None of the hunger strikers has a life-threatening condition, said Lt. Col. Samuel House, a spokesman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

In a major national security speech May 23, Obama promised to restart the repatriation process for about 86 detainees at Guantanamo Bay who were cleared for transfer by an interagency task force. Transfers had been stalled for more than a year because of restrictions imposed by Congress and the unwillingness of the administration to exercise waivers by certifying that transfers are in the interest of national security.

There are 166 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, a majority of whom are Yemeni nationals. Two years ago, Obama imposed his own moratorium on sending detainees to Yemen because of concerns about security there. But he said he will lift the ban.

Obama also said he will appoint senior envoys at the State and Defense departments to oversee and accelerate the process of moving detainees.

There has been no visible progress on these commitments, but administration officials have cautioned that it will take time to restart the effort to close the facility.

In the wake of Obama’s speech, some Republicans on Capitol Hill signaled that they will attempt to block the closure.

The hunger strike began in early February and grew steadily, as more and more detainees joined the protest. The initial catalyst was a decision by the guard force at Guantanamo Bay to search detainees’ Korans. The military said that detainees have used Korans to hide contraband, and that the searches were conducted by Muslim cultural advisers, not ordinary guards. The prisoners objected and said the searches amounted to desecration.

The hunger strike quickly became a wider protest about what the detainees considered the president’s abandonment of his policy to close the facility. Both the military and civilian attorneys for the detainees, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, said despair is widespread among the detainees because of their indefinite detention.

The Red Cross and the American Medical Association have expressed concern about the force-feeding of prisoners, saying detainees have a right to fast, even to death, if they are of clear mind. The military insists that it will do everything it can to preserve the lives of the hunger strikers.

Detainees who are force-fed are strapped to a chair twice a day and fed a liquid nutritional supplement through a tube that runs through the nose and into the stomach.

Source

Guantanamo Detainees Undergoing ‘Genital Searches’ Ahead Of Offsite Meetings, Lawyers Say

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

June 06, 2013 “Information Clearing House – WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees urged a federal judge Wednesday to stop what they describe as new “genital searches” for detainees who want to meet with their lawyers.

The lawyers say that the searches began after detainees were told they would have to travel offsite to meet with their lawyers at another location at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, rather than at the prison there.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court Wednesday, the lawyers said some detainees are refusing to make the trip because of the new searches. According to filings by the detainees’ lawyers, the searches involve touching and holding of the genital and anal areas of the detainees. The courtroom was sealed from the public and news media for the government’s side of the case, because it had to do with the administration of the Guantanamo prison.

William Livingston, a lawyer for one of the detainees, called the searches “a punitive response” to the widespread hunger strike at Guantanamo.

Livingston argued that the searches aren’t necessary, calling the Guantanamo prison a “sealed bubble … This is not the Baltimore city jail,” where more than two dozen people were indicted in a contraband smuggling conspiracy.

In an email, Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a Defense Department spokesman, said there’s a well-documented history of Guantanamo detainees possessing contraband, and that guards use the minimum force necessary to ensure the safety of the detainees and the guards.

“Searches for contraband have been in existence since the facility was opened and assertions that they are in reaction to the hunger strike simply do not withstand intellectual rigor,” he added.

Breasseale wouldn’t comment on whether the searches include genital areas, saying he wouldn’t discuss security protocols at the prison.

Another detainee lawyer, Brent Rushforth, read from letters he received from a client, who described the new searches as “humanly degrading.”

In a court filing, Rushforth called the new policy “an intentional, calculated effort by the government to cut off attorney access and thereby silence the detainees, inhibiting negative press reports on the hunger strike and the unlawful confinement and conditions that persists at Guantanamo.”

Chief Judge Royce Lamberth, who presided over the hearing, did not issue a ruling from the bench. Last year, Lamberth, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, ordered the government to stop trying to restrict lawyers’ access to some Guantanamo detainees whose bids to challenge their confinement had been denied or dismissed.

The new battle over the searches comes as President Barack Obama makes a renewed push to close the prison, saying in a speech last month that “history will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and those of us who fail to end it.”

This article was originally published at Huffington Post -

Pictures and Video
The following photos were released May 2, 2013 by the (Propaganda section) US 138th Public Affairs Detachment. The photos depict Joint Task Force Guantanamo’s “Behavioral Health Unit” and Joint Medical Group facilities where detainees are force-fed due to an ongoing hunger strike among more than two-thirds of the detainees. The photos released by the military show soldiers trying to provide food to the detainees in Camp 5 and 6, then throwing the food away after it is refused by the detainees. The photos also show “internal nourishment preparation” and a “feeding chair” used when force-feeding detainees.

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