US Steps Up Efforts To Break Guantánamo Hunger Strike

[Purveyor]

Increasingly brutal tactics are being used in an attempt to break the hunger strike by detainees at Guantánamo Bay, according to fresh testimony from the last British resident still held in the camp.

Shaker Aamer claims that the US authorities are systematically making the regime more hardline to try to defuse the strike, which now involves almost two-thirds of the detainees. Techniques include making cells "freezing cold" to accentuate the discomfort of those on hunger strike and the introduction of "metal-tipped" feeding tubes, which Aamer said were forced into inmates' stomachs twice a day and caused detainees to vomit over themselves.

The 46-year-old from London tells of one detainee who was admitted to hospital 10 days ago after a nurse had pushed the tube into his lungs rather than his stomach, causing him later to cough up blood. Aamer also alleges that some nurses at Guantánamo Bay are refusing to wear their name tags in order to prevent detainees registering abuse complaints against staff.

Speaking last week from the camp in Cuba, exactly four months after he joined the hunger strike, Aamer said: "The administration is getting ever more angry and doing everything they can to break our hunger strike. Honestly, I wish I was dead."

The momentum behind efforts to release Aamer – who has spent more than 11 years without trial inside the camp – mounted sharply last week with David Cameron raising the issue directly with the US president, Barack Obama, during the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.

MORE...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/22/us-efforts-guantanamo-hunger-strike?CMP=twt_fd

[WestStar]

1. UN calls force-feeding 'torture' amid Guantanamo hunger strike

Force-feeding is "torture" and breaks international law, the UN's human rights office said Wednesday, as 100 of the 166 detainees at Guantanamo Bay continue a months-long hunger strike. Twenty-one inmates are being force-fed through nasal tubes.
By News Wires (text)

Force-feeding hunger strikers is a breach of international law, the UN's human rights office said Wednesday, as US authorities tried to stem a protest by inmates at the controversial Guantanamo Bay jail.

"If it's perceived as torture or inhuman treatment -- and it's the case, it's painful -- then it is prohibited by international law," Rupert Coville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights, told AFP.

Same as waterboarding. I wonder if the current administration has a legal opinion that justifies the practice? We know the previous one would have.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130501-force-feeding-torture-un-law-guantanamo-hunger-strike

[Vinnie From Indy]

2. What have we become?

I sincerely hope there are someday war crimes charges brought against my fellow countrymen have done these things.

[SamKnause]

3. Hunger strike

The Commander in Chief has the power to stop these atrocities.

We now have two administrations that have endorsed, enabled, aided and abetted torture.

This will not end well for the U.S.

There will be blowback.

Our government and MIC brass have in actuality painted big red X's on all Americans.

If this is their idea of spreading democracy around the globe, they need to go to plan B.

This is the 21st century.

When will the insanity and madness end ?

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Obama: stop the torture now.

Let all of those cleared go. You have the authority. Charge the others under the regular criminal justice system or release them. End this abomination.