US admits Gitmo hunger strike spreading

[lovuian]

http://rt.com/usa/guantanamo-hunger-strike-expands-359/

The US Military said Friday that 14 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison can be defined as hunger strikers, five more than they had previously reported. Lawyers have said that more than 100 inmates are taking part in the five-week-long protest.

One of the strikers was taken to the prison hospital, Guantanamo detention center spokesperson Navy Capt. Robert Durand said Friday. Five others are being fed through tubes put through their noses into their stomachs, while eight others are not yet sufficiently malnourished to merit such treatment, he said.

Durand denied that the hunger strike is “a widespread phenomenon, as alleged,” by the captives’ lawyers, and blamed them of spreading “outright falsehoods and gross exaggerations.” He downplayed the reports of a mass strike at Gitmo, saying that most of the alleged strikers are skipping regular meals, but substituting them with snacks.

“Refusing prepared meals and choosing to subsist for a time on snack foods does not constitute a hunger strike,” Durand said.

[lovuian]

1. Rt News report on the hunger strike

http://on.rt.com/l39dd4

[lovuian]

2. This was an ABC news report on March 5 There was denial of the Hunger strike

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-denies-report-mass-guantanamo-hunger-strike-18652504

It seems now Durand is admitting there is a hunger strike going on now

[Mnemosyne]

3. Taking their Korans away, force feeding..argh. Making terrorists faster than we can kill them. K&Rnt

[lovuian]

7. Prisoner protest at Guantánamo Bay stains Obama's human rights record

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/14/prisoner-protest-guantanamo-stains-obama

The Obama administration has claimed that only six or seven prisoners are on a hunger strike. Prisoner letters and attorney eyewitness accounts, however, support the claim that well over 100 of the 166 Guantánamo prisoners are into at least the second month of the strike.

this was on March 14

[Mnemosyne]

8. They are living a nightmare and this country should be ashamed. Remember the day that three of the

prisoners committed suicide within approximately ten minutes? June 2006. It was supposed to be impossible because they were watched so closely, every five minutes a guard came past.

Nothing has improved. We have taken hope away from many mostly innocent people. I despair when karma comes to kick our asses, though it will be well-earned.

[lovuian]

9. kick

:kick:

[Mnemosyne]

10. Needs another... nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Why is it that we have to rely on a Russian media outlet for out news of this?

I see that CBS News did a brief piece on a "dispute" over the hunger strike, but other than that, it's been RT or Pravda, with a tiny number of US blog picking it up.

[lovuian]

5. I noticed that too the US news has gone quiet

it did report it on ABC news on March 5 and it was denied
but it appears Durand has agreed there is a hunger strike according to RT

here is CBS news seven hours ago
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57574682/dispute-over-hunger-strikes-at-guantanamo/

Attorneys for detainees long-held without charges at the U.S military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, assert that a general hunger strike involving many of the 166 detainees who remain incarcerated there has entered its second month.

But the U.S. military strongly denies that claim, calling it "a fabrication," and instead says only 14 detainees are actively engaged in hunger strikes detrimental to their health.

In a letter of concern sent to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday, a group of 51 detainee attorneys wrote, "at least two dozen men have lost consciousness due to low blood glucose levels." The Pentagon said it was aware of the letter but declined to discuss it.

Low Blood glucose levels means hypoglycemia....that is a sign of hunger

[lovuian]

6. here it comes more News reports( Fourteen on hunger strike at Gitmo:) AAP and yahoo news released it

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/16382244/fourteen-on-hunger-strike-at-gitmo-us/

The US military says it has designated 14 captives at the Guantanamo detention centre as "hunger strikers," adding that six of them are being force-fed through tubes.

The acknowledgement comes a day after 51 lawyers wrote to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel about their "urgent and grave concern about a mass hunger strike taking place at the prison, now in its second month".

They sought Hagel's intervention in "a serious threat to the health and life of detainees".

Navy Captain Robert Durand, the prison spokesman, denied "a widespread phenomenon, as alleged" but said, for the first time after weeks of denial, that the number had surged to 14 from the five or six detainees who had for years been consider hunger strikers among the 166 captives at Guantanamo.


a prisoner is in the hospital


It looks bad

[KoKo]

11. It's been reported on "International News"...bad stuff going on

in Gitmo.

These are detainees who were cleared of Terrorist Charges...but, can't be released...given up hope and the only thing they can do is DIE to get attention. US Government placed "Feeding Tubes" in Five of the Worst Off on last report.

So even folks protesting against Unjust Treatment are now FORCE FED with a SURGICAL TUBE!

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME? Obama RAN IN '08 on CLOSING GITMO...now Innocents of any Terrorism are being Force Fed or Denying themselves Food because they HAVE NO HOPE?

[marmar]

12. Our gulag. Our shame.

nt

[KoKo]

13. Kick...it's important..