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Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Fri Aug 26, 2005 at 11:04:46 PM EST
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89 detainees at Guantanamo Bay have resumed a hunger strike. According to Guantanamo spokesman Colonel Brad Blackner, it resumed on August 8:

The prisoners, protesting against their living conditions and their continued detention without trial, had gone on a widespread hunger strike that ended in July. Word that the hunger strike had resumed was disclosed on Thursday by Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights lawyer who returned from visiting clients at the base a week ago. Mr Smith warned that many detainees have grown so desperate that they intend to starve themselves to death in an effort to create a public relations disaster for the US military.

The cause of the resumed hunger strike appears to be abuse-related:

The decision was sparked by rumours of a violent interrogation session and two rough extractions of detainees from their cells, as well as a new incident of alleged desecration of a copy of the Koran.

In a meeting with detainee representatives, the military had promised a series of improvements to living conditions if they would start eating again. "They have betrayed our trust," Mr Smith's declassified notes quote Mohammed as saying. "Therefore the strike must begin again. Some have already begun. … I do not plan to stop until I either die or we are respected. People will definitely die."

Blackner, in confirming the strike, said that a hunger strike is defined as a prisoner who misses 9 meals in 72 hours. In other words, three days without food. [Via What Really Happened.]

Meanwhile, Death row inmate and convicted 'Sniper' John Muhammed is also on a hunger strike. The Court has ordered him force-fed. Exactly what is the policy consideration behind force-feeding a prisoner awaiting execution?

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    Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#1)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:48 PM EST
    Too bad the government won't prove they have nothing to hide by turning over those pictures to the ACLU. Wonder why.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#2)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:48 PM EST
    actually, this would eliminate a lot of problems. by starving themselves to death, they no longer are an issue to deal with, they can be "non-personed". i see this as a "win-win" all around: they get out of gitmo (albeit, the hard way), and we no longer have to explain why they are there. yep, works for me!

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    But, cpinva, like overbearing parents the US authorities don't want to let their precious detainees go (the hard or whatever way). These totally innocent Chinese Uighurs have been held in Guantanamo for three years now. The reason? Apparently just because.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#4)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    Well ok, send the so called prisoners to a U.S.,Prison and have a court date for 2035 but you do understand in all U.S. Prison state and fed you can't have a bible or a torah so you can't have a koran and as far as the food goes you must eat what is place in front of you or you go without..fair is fair. but also understand if the muslims are raped by the gang members that run the prison system that would be called a human rights outrage, so you can't win in any case so just place the ones who have done something really evil like kill some innocent person and shot him and let the rest go home, Thou shall not kill, much!..this is a joke, and you are paying for it each day. I can't wait until i can go to Guantanamo for some summer fun and games. can someone Denounces me soon?

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#5)
    by wg on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    not so fast, according to one Maryland judge prisoners have no right to hunger strikes. Prison "may administer necessary nourishment, hydration and medical care" by using - if necessary - "medically reasonable force" (source). Something about needing "..to ensure his continued health ... " a concern that is rather hypocritical given that Maryland wants to kill him anyway. Oh the perverse morality of some judges. Still it would be helpful if somebody informed Mr. Rayn and his colleagues on the bench know that force feeding competent people is such a major abuse of government powers that even British do not do it these days

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#6)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    wg, the problem with that is the MD judge was referring to people who've actually been indicted, tried and convicted of an actual known crime. as far as i know, none of the "detainees" has been charged, much less convicted, of anything. i realize i'm being nit picky, but hell, it is a legal site! lol

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#7)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    Thank you wg and cpinva, but you forget one fact we don't live in a country that follows laws let allow ideals like right and wrong, its not about laws or terror its about total power over you, the detainees maybe evil guys but so is bush and his business friends.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#8)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    cpinva, Good point about the detainees not having been charged. If they have any evidence that any of these detainees were involved in any crimes, then how come there haven't been any charges in the 3 years that they have been held? The Bush administration claims that these prisoners provide valuable information, but doesn't any information that these detainees have, if any, become dated and only marginally useful the longer they are kept in detention. It seems to me that there are three reaons these prisoners haven't been charged. 1. Many of them are innocent. 2. the Bush administration is fearful of losing most of the cases if these detainees were given a fair trial. 3. It would further expose many of the abusive practices.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#9)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    The cause of the resumed hunger strike appears to be abuse-related:
    The decision was sparked by rumours of a violent interrogation session and two rough extractions of detainees from their cells, as well as a new incident of alleged desecration of a copy of the Koran.
    It sounds like to me the hunger stike is rumor related.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#10)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    Humpty Dumpty puts it right.
    `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
    The gitmo prisoners have not been charged because they have no right to ask to be charged, they are a brand new entity defined by King Chimp decree. Since the individuals' classification at gitmo is such a neologism, what they are is still unfixed and only open to modifications by their Master. Call them what ever you want prisoners, abductees, hostages, kidnap victims, POWs, it does not matter, Smirk gets to control the language of what they are and no one is going to tell him different, for he is Master here...and there, which is aslo cleverly here and and nowhere all at the same time (Cuba still has not cashed any of our 'rent' checks).
    `The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's all.'
    It is ironic to debate whether or not they have the right to go on hunger strike when they still only exist as morphing symbols of Bush's power, symbols which have not yet signified anything close to Human Beings. The New American Monarchy is perhaps the next oxymoron we will have to grapple with.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#11)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    DA-Well put! Some things never change:
    I wuz promised ef I behabed like a man I shood be counted a man. I behabed like a man, but wat now? Dar's de cibbel rites bill, which reads good, but wha's de sogers to put it froo? Dar's all sorts ob laws, but wha's de yoose ob em so long ez noboddy pays any tenshun to em?...We can't stay heah and git our rites—we can't go dah, coz ebry wun ob em will tell yoo his nabor ain't eddicated up to de pint ob doin anything but holdin de offises, and passin resolooshens dat dey bleeve in de principles ob de Declarashen ob Independence, wich principles reed bery well, but wat good is dey to me ef dey ain't acted up to? Fo' fo'pence I'd go hang myself."
    link

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#13)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    DA-No, just shining some light on the applicable thread. Chaydes uv dawrkrnez awayz neeetz alyuminhatchin.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#14)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    Wile re: "It sounds like to me the hunger stike is rumor related." I've heard a rumor that we have a 6th Amendment to the Constitution which states "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State...and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#15)
    by Aaron on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:52 PM EST
    I'm dismayed by the fact that I see almost nothing about this on the national wire services, or on the national broadcast news. From some of the flippant remarks I see posted here, it's apparent that some don't realize how serious an issue this is. Historically all we need do is look at the hunger strikes by IRA members imprisoned in Northern Ireland during the 1980s. The British government underestimated the resolve of these political prisoners to their great detriment. Not only did the deaths of these hunger strikers garner sympathy worldwide for their cause, it helped to consolidate the will of every other IRA member who watch their compatriots dwindle away over a period of months. The name Bobby Sands became a rallying cry which helped the IRA hold on for another 30 years. Today there's a street in Tehran named after Bobby Sands. The Islamic world has a long memory and pays much greater homage to history then we seem to. Let these detainees die and you'll have streets named after them springing up all over the Muslim world. The United States does not want to make the same mistake that the British did. Unlike the IRA hunger strikers, these detainees have not been tried or convicted of any crime. If we were to allow them to die, the impact on the Islamic world and the implications for the struggle against terrorism can only be guessed at, so before we start letting people starve themselves to death we'd better think long and hard about the long-term ramifications. (Cautionary note) The IRA members died much more quickly than anyone expected because no one took into consideration that the water they were drinking was chlorinated. In fact a human being can survive more than three months without food, depending upon physical condition and body fat stores, if they are provided with unchlorinated water. But without food chlorine builds up in the body and poisons you relatively quickly, let's hope the people at Guantánamo have considered this fact.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike (none / 0) (#16)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:52 PM EST
    This means nothing stop the bull your next, so be happy in prison that is were you all are going. Rights?..what a joke. its not about terror or terrorists its about control and the dismantling of this nation, and it's going to be fun to watch.

    Guantanamo Detainees Resume Hunger Strike | 15 comments (15 topical)