The Pentagon’s silence over Guantanamo hunger strike

The New York based organization Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced the Pentagon’s silence over the growing hunger strike going in Guantanamo since August 8, and its persistent refusal to inform the relatives on the state of near 130 prisoners taking part in the strike.

The number of Guantanamo prisoners taking part in the hunger strike has swelled to about a quarter of the prison population over the past month.

Twenty prisoners have been hospitalized at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, located in east Cuba, occupied against the will of its government and people, and most of them are being tube-fed through their nose, according to a defense official.

"They are listed in stable condition and JTF Guantanamo medical personnel are monitoring their condition," an official said on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. Department of Defense has constantly refused to give the names of the hunger-striking prisoners, stated a release from the CCR responsible for giving Guantanamo detainees legal counsel.

The prisoners are complaining about the inhuman treatment they’re receiving at the U.S. detention center and are trying to draw the attention of the international community into the brutal interrogation tactics and pursued by the U.S military personnel. They demand to be either tried or released.

According to the New York based NGO, the World Medical Association demands doctors treating hunger strikers to inform their families on their condition.

CCR Attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez criticised the Pentagon for denying such information to the relatives, saying that not even national security concern justifies hiding their condition.

Currently there are more than 500 priosners from 30 different countries at Guantanamo prison, most of them held without charges. They were classified as "enemy combatants" to justify their exclusion from the U.S. legal system and their condition as prisoners of war.

U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, which covers 116 kmІ, was established in 1898, when the United States illegally obtained control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War, following the 1898 invasion of Guantanamo Bay.

With over 9,500 U.S. troops, Guantanamo Bay is the only U.S. base in operation on Communist soil, as of 2005.

Three British prisoners, released in 2004 without charge, revealed ongoing torture, sexual degradation, forced drugging and religious persecution committed by U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo prison.

They presented a 115-page dossier detailing the brutal tactics adopted at the detention center, in which they accused the British authorities of knowing about the torture and failing to respond.

The prisoners’ accusations were further confirmed by two former French prisoners, a former Swedish prisoner, and a former Australian prisoner.

Mehdi Ghezali, a Swedish former Guantanamo detainee was freed on July 2004 after two and half years internment. Ghezali, who was the victim of repeated torture intends to sue the U.S. for their treatment he received at the prison.

Also Moazzam Begg, a Guantanamo detainee freed in January, 2005, after nearly three years in captivity, accused the U.S. military of torturing him and other detainees arrested in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In his first broadcast interview since his release, Mr Begg siad he "witnessed two people get beaten so badly that I believe it caused their deaths".

• “Cash rewards”

According to a recent report, released by the Associated Press news agency, some of the detainees were turned over to the U.S. government by Afghan tribesmen in return for cash rewards.

Detainees testified during military tribunals that bounties ranged from 3,000 doll. to 25,000 doll. The allegations were in transcripts the U.S. government released in compliance with a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by AP.