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Guantanamo Detainees' Hunger Strike Enters Second Month
Sep 9, 2005
Scores of prisoners held at the U.S. military's detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reportedly are in the second month of a hunger strike called to protest what the detainees say is their mistreatment by jailers.
The hunger strike began August 8. Lawyers representing the detainees say they acted to protest beatings, denial of their basic needs and the lack of fair trials.
The New York-based legal aid group Center for Constitutional Rights says some of more than 200 hunger strikers are demanding either to be put on trial or released.
U.S. military officials say only 76 detainees have refused food, and that 10 of those were in stable condition after being fed through nose tubes.
In Washington Thursday, a federal appeals court questioned Bush administration officials about their handling of detainees. A Justice Department lawyer said the prisoners held in Cuba are not entitled to U.S. constitutional rights of due process. An attorney for the prisoners told the three-judge panel the detainees should be allowed to prove in court that they are not enemy combatants.
The U.S. military says it is holding 505 enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay. Most of the prisoners were captured in Afghanistan and Iraq, and some have been held for nearly four years.
This article uses material from VOA.
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