A mass hunger strike has been unfolding in the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison for over two months now. RT has been badgering the UN, prison officials, detainees' attorneys and activists to get a full account of the situation.
April 17
Meanwhile, Yemeni inmate Musa'ab Omar al-Madhwani was denied a request for emergency relief by US District Judge Thomas Hogan, who responded that he has no jurisdiction over the conditions at the prison. Judge Hogan added that al-Madhwani, as a participant in the hunger strike, had "self-manufactured" his health condition.
Dr. Stephen N. Xenakis, a physician who interviewed al-Madhwani by phone, concluded that his "life may be in imminent danger." Xenakis wrote that after being treated with intravenous fluids following a collapse last week, al-Madhwani was placed in solitary confinement and has not received daily medical monitoring.
Moazzam Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, told RT that while the findings from a recent independent task force report may seem encouraging, he doubts the prison base will close by the time US troops pull out of Afghanistan in 2014.
"I spoke to people from the task force last year and, although they certainly mean well, I don't know whether that's going to take place because there has to be a will and I don't think the will exists," he said. "If you've still got people in Guantanamo eleven years after the invasion of Afghanistan then there's no practical will to send these people back to where they'll live a normal life. I don't know where that will is going to come from."
Begg is a British Pakistani citizen who spent three years behind bars at the US prison compound after being arrested in 2002 and accused of working as a recruiter for Al-Qaeda. He was released at the behest of Amnesty International but said he would "absolutely" join the current hunger strike if still incarcerated.
"There's no doubt in my mind," Begg added. "The hunger strike is an action of desperation. They know very well in Guantanamo that the only way you can get your rights is by taking extreme measures."
April 16
A defense attorney for inmates at Guantanamo Bay told reporters Tuesday that he was denied in trying to make an emergency phone call to one of his clients, Fayiz Muhammad Ahmed al Kandari. Carlos Warner, who represents 11 detainees, told Rolling Stone that al-Kandari is participating in the hunger strike and that the last time the two met the prisoner was "skin and bones."
Warner added that another lawyer recently spoke with al-Kandari, who was "very weak and despondent" and "too weak to attend meetings two days."
The Pentagon's refusal comes only days after US troops wounded five inmates during a raid in the communal unit of the prison camp.
"The military is closing ranks and restricting access to clients," Warner said. "They don't want the public to know what happened during its raid."
He also said that the US government's silence on the issue even after 86 of the 166 remaining detainees have been cleared to leave the prison has led many of the men to give up hope.
"They have no credibility left," Warner said in an email. "It cannot hide what is obvious. The military is at war with the men of Guantanamo."
April 14
The current conditions at Guantanamo would have precluded prisoners from getting their hands on any type of makeshift weapons prior to Saturday's alleged efforts to resist transfer to single cells, Cindy Panuco, a lawyer for the Afghan detainee Obaidullah, told RT. Panuco says the detainees only had access to the small ballpoint inserts of a pen, which are essentially "like straws with ink at the end of them."
"That's pretty much all they're allowed, so I don't see, especially given the evasive searches that were conducted in February, what kind of makeshift weapons the government is referring to. That's still to be determined, especially since there's no way they could have any sort of weapons."
Panuco argues the transfer of the prisoners from communal living to individual cells is an attempt to break their resolve in continuing on with the hunger strike.
April 13
Four US officials "involved in legalizing torture and indefinite detention of prisoners" have been included in a list of Americans banned from entering Russia. The 'Guantanamo List' published by Russia's Foreign Ministry includes:
1. David Spears Addington, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (2005-2009)
2. John Choon Yoo, Assistant US Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice (2001-2003)
3. Geoffrey D. Miller, retired US Army Major General, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2002-2003)
4. Jeffrey Harbeson, US Navy officer, commandant of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), the organization that runs the Guantanamo Bay detention camps (2010-2012)
On Saturday, Moscow released a list of 18 blacklisted Americans allegedly involved in human rights violations in the US and abroad, and in illegal actions against Russian citizens in America. The move came in response to the 'Magnitsky List' the US published on Friday.
US Major General Geoffrey D. Miller. (AFP Photo / Damir Sagolj)
Guards clash with prisoners at Guantanamo as officers move detainees from communal to single cells in attempt to end the hunger strike. The detainees used self-made weapons to resist the transfer, thus forcing guards to fire, the US military said in a statement. Officials say no guards or detainees have been seriously injured. The reason for the move was explained because the detainees covered surveillance cameras, windows and partitions, preventing guards from observing them during a hunger strike that has been continuing for more than two months. "Round-the-clock monitoring is necessary to ensure security, order, and safety as detainees continued a prolonged hunger strike by refusing regular camp-provided meals," Navy Captain Robert Durand said.
April 12
Amid the ongoing hunger strike, Guantanamo detention camp is set to get a new boss, the Pentagon has announced.
Rear Admiral Richard W. Butler, previously serving at the Air Warfare Division in Washington has been named the next commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo replacing Rear Admiral John W. Smith, who will serve at the National Defense University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Rotating the prison commander, who serves for about a year, is part of a normal routine, the Pentagon claimed.
Activists demand the closing of the US military's detention facility in Guantanamo during a protest, part of the Nationwide for Guantanamo Day of Action, April 11, 2013 in New York's Times Square (AFP Photo / Stan Honda)
Human rights activists across the United States organized rallies as part of "Day of Action to Close Guantanamo & End Indefinite Detention" as the hunger strike in the offshore US prison began its third month. Activists in 19 states and over 26 cities, including New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco dressed in the orange jumpsuits worn by detainees and donned the infamous black hoods, holding placards and banners demanding Gitmo abolition.
The American Civil Liberties Union joined Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and 22 other rights organizations that signed an open letter calling on Obama to close the prison. "The situation is the predictable result of continuing to hold prisoners indefinitely without charge for more than 11 years," the letter read. "We urge you to begin working to transfer the remaining detained men to their home countries or other countries for resettlement, or to charge them in a court that comports with fair trial standards."
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Mauer, implored the White House to resolve the "untenable" legal situation being faced by Guantanamo detainees.
Peter Mauer
"The issue of Guantanamo is politically blocked in this country," Maurer told a Washington news conference following a meeting with President Barack Obama the previous day.
"If we see a hunger strike today, we interpret this as a symptom, as an indicator about the lack of perspective that those detainees have, the impression of an American government which does not follow up on promises, promises that have been made on transfers," Maurer said.
He further urged the White House to do everything to find "a new compromise to move the issue forward."
Meanwhile, Red Cross spokesman Simon Schorno told RT that the US Congress is the main obstacle to closing Guantanamo Bay prison, adding that his organization's priority wasn't shutting the facility down, but providing clarity for the inmates about their inmates.
"For us, the issue is not that of closure of Guantanamo," Schorno said. "What's at stake is the legality of the detention and the ability to provide clarity for the detainees, so that they know about their fate."
"It's not because we don't voice our concerns publicly that we aren't trying to tackle the problem from the humanitarian stand point," Schorno added.
April 11
Feroz Abbasi spent several years in extrajudicial detention at Guantanamo – two of them in solitary confinement – before being released without charges. He shared the details of his experience at the notorious facility with RT.
"In Guantanamo, because I can speak English, I was treated better than the other detainees," he said. "So, those Arabs, who didn't speak English, who came from a different culture, were treated harshly, very harshly. But my treatment wasn't so much physical, we did get beatings, when we were transferred from camp to camp, it was psychological. So, for some reason on the same night when Iraq was bombed in March 2003, I was moved into isolation, solitary confinement, and I was there for two years. Six months of which were without sunlight."
RT also spoke with Clive Stafford Smith, attorney for Gitmo detainee Younus Chekkouri, about what his client has been enduring since the strike began.
"The water was severely restricted and his block only got it back because one of the prisoners' lawyers made a fuss about it in the media," Smith said. "Younus understands that other blocks are treated differently, and some still have very little access to water. Younus said that he now wakes up in the middle of the night, starving, and he remembers his dreams, where he has imagined that he is faced with large piles of wonderful food. It is torture."
April 10
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has announced the ministry's plans to visit Guantanamo Bay detention camp in order to examine the condition of the prison's only Russian detainee, Ravil Mingazov.
"We're preparing such visitation. I hope it'll take place in the near future and we'll able to see how our citizen Mingazov is doing," Lavrov told a media-conference following talks with US Secretary of State, John Kerry.
Segey Lavrov (AFP Photo / Leon Neal)
Adel Bin Ahmed Bin Ibrahim Hkiml, a 48-year-old Tunisian detainee who had been on a hunger strike for 43 days, tried to kill himself, according to his lawyer. Cori Crider spoke with the Huffington Post regarding Hkiml's suicide attempt after being informed via a recently-cleared letter dated March 19 from another detainee, whose own lawyer then informed Crider.
Hkiml has been held at Guantanamo for more than eleven years, and had been in solitary confinement since March. The inmate who wrote the letter informing Hkiml's lawyer of his suicide attempt stated that he was unaware of his current location once he had been taken away by ambulance, or whether he had survived.
Meanwhile, another detainee informed his lawyer that a fellow prisoner, Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, had suffered a minor heart attack while being forcefed on March 19.
Reuters / Bob Strong
Authorities are paying little mind to the hunger strike at Guantanamo prison because the International Committee of the Red Cross is biased towards one side – and it's not that of the starving inmates, military attorney for Gitmo inmates Barry Wingard told RT:
"I can tell you that the situation here is extremely bad and it is brutality," he said. "I'm a military officer. I've been an attorney for 15 years. I've been in the military for 29 years, I've been a prosecutor in Baghdad and a war crimes investigator in Bosnia. And I've got to tell you, I've never seen anything like it."
April 9
RT has been placed in a queue for a media visit to the prison.
"Currently, we are not scheduling media visits because we have military commissions from April 15-26. Your request has been noted and you are in the queue for a media visit as first available. Your organization is ninth on the list of requests," Media Relations Officer Malisa Hamper wrote in a letter to RT.
Meanwhile, a military attorney for Gitmo inmates told RT that he is being refused a visit to his clients without any explanation or apology.
"I've met with my clients more than 175 times," Barry Wingard said. "In the 175 times, I've been refused a total of four times. And each of the four times, it was accompanied with an apology for why they could not do it. This time was without explanation."
"I can tell you that the situation here is extremely bad, and it is brutality," he said, adding that he had never seen anything like the scene at Guantanamo in his 15-year career as a military attorney.
April 8
US government officials have begun contacting attorneys of Guantanamo Bay inmates who are being force-fed as the hunger strike on the prison base drags past the two-month mark. Several lawyers have come forward to report that they were contacted by the Department of Justice and told their clients are being fed via topical anesthetic or by a rubber tube through their nostril.
The US military generally avoids discussing specific prisoners because of guidelines set forth in the Geneva Convention, but has not discussed any individual cases with the media. Why prison officials and the Department of Justice waited to notify lawyers of force feedings was an object of speculation. Washington has denied the feeding process is painful, while an attorney said her client "never felt anything like it in his life."
AFP Photo / Jim Watson
April 6
Forty one prisoners have now been classified as hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay, Gitmo spokesman Navy Capt. Robert Durand has said. The official count has increased by one since Thursday. The spokesman added that two prisoners who had been hospitalized for dehydration have now been released. Eleven more are still being force-fed to keep their weight loss from becoming life threatening, though the controversial practice has been compared to torture by the UN.
April 5
Washington's failure to close Guantanamo and release indefinitely held detainees is a "clear breach of international law," UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said in a statement on Friday. She also called the ongoing hunger strike a "desperate," but "scarcely surprising" act.
April 4
The US is 'working hard to meet international humanitarian law standards at Guantanamo' detention facility, claimed the State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland at a daily press briefing.
Nuland reported that Russian citizen Ravil Mingazov, incarcerated in Guantanamo for over a decade without trial, has refused to meet a Russian delegation because he has that right. She added that US is going to observe that right for him in the future.
"So we're not able to facilitate the interview that they requested because we have a long-lasting policy of not forcing such interviews if they are not voluntary," Nuland said adding that an invitation to a Russian delegation visit to get a 'broader understanding' of the facility's operations still 'remains open'.
Russia has been trying to gain access to Mingazov for 10 years and wants to check his well-being, Russia's Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov noted.
April 2
Automatic budget cuts that are a part of the US sequestration have axed funds used by government appointed lawyers to visit their clients at the Guantanamo Bay prison. As Carlos Warner, a federal public defender in the Northern District of Ohio, told The Huffington Post:
"The sequester has completely eviscerated my ability to represent these individuals. Our budget for representing Guantanamo has been basically shifted over to paying salaries. For me, as a federal defender who works for the government, that's an issue."
Relatives of Yemeni inmates held in the US detention center "Camp Delta" at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, brandish their portraits during a protest to demand their release, outside the American Embassy in Sanaa, on April 1, 2013 (AFP Photo / Mohammed Huwais)
The Pentagon currently runs weekly flights to Guantanamo, or pays for lawyers to visit clients at Guantanamo to travel via the few available commercial flights. According to Warner, that option is now gone, and it comes at a time when the continuing hunger strike by detainees necessitates bi-weekly visits.
The number of the participants of the hunger strike has risen to 39, with 11 being force-fed, according to a prison spokesman Robert Durand. Last Friday the number of strikers was reported to be 37. The demonstrators which held a rally on April 1 outside the US embassy in Yemen capital, Sanaa, claim the authorities are downplaying the numbers of the inmates on the hunger strike.
April 1
One of the most well-known prisoners at Guantanamo Shaker Aamer has confirmed earlier reports that the number of prisoners on hunger strike was 130. He told his lawyer on Friday that he has lost 32 pounds during the strike that began Feb. 6. He added that prison officials have been trying to break the strike without success.
In Yemen, around 250 protesters surrounded the US embassy to demand the return of Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo. More than half of all prisoners inside the center are Yemeni, but their extradition has been delayed by years of fruitless negotiations between the US and changing governments in the country.
A lawyer representing a Guantanamo inmate who was one of the initial hunger strikers told RT, "I was shocked to see that he had lost about 40 pounds from the last time I saw him, and he was in a terribly weak state. He was bending over from stomach pains and said that he had not eaten since February 6."
"They're now also protesting the worsening conditions as these prison officials are essentially retaliating against them and trying to end the strike by making conditions harsher," Cindy Panuco indicated.
March 31
Anti-Guantanamo activists in Kuwait are holding a rally on Sunday to support two Kuwaiti nationals who have been kept at the notorious US prison for over a decade.
The rally, dubbed "Rescue Fayiz Al Kandari & Fawzi Al Odah," is scheduled for 07:00pm Kuwait time (1600 GMT). According to a local lawyer representing Al Kandari, the organizers expect at least 500 people to attend.
Fayiz Al Kandari was captured in Afghanistan as he was traveling to Pakistan shortly after the US invaded the country following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Guantanamo military commission charged him with war crimes, believing him to be a trained jihadist recruiter. His lawyers said most of the evidence against Al Kandari was based on hearsay. He has been in US custody for almost 11 years.
Protesters dressed in orange prison outfits and black masks attend a demonstration outside the US embassy in Kuwait City, calling for the release of Kuwaiti prisoners still behind the bars at the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay (AFP Photo / Yasser Al-Zayyat)
Fawzi Al Odah was also captured while traveling to Pakistan through Afghanistan by what his family called bounty hunters seeking American reward money for Arabs. The US believes him to be a Taliban foot soldier with links to Al Qaeda. He has spent more than 11 years in Guantanamo prison.
Both men were involved in previous hunger strikes in the prison, and were subjected to force-feeding; Al Kandari was reportedly one of the detainees who has lost much weight during the ongoing protest.
March 30
In response to the motion for "emergency humanitarian relief" (.pdf) filed by the attorneys of Yemeni prisoner Musa'ab Omar al Madhwani, Colonel John V. Bogdan, Commander of the Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, has filed his own declaration (.pdf). Col. Bogdan states that all detainees at Guantanamo have "unlimited access to potable water from taps in sinks in their cells and on detention blocks," and that it is "the same water that I drink on a daily basis." The statement directly counters claims made by al Madhwani that only facility staff had ready access to potable water.
Col. Bogdan's statement also addresses another claim made on behalf of al Madhwani via his attorney, which is that temperatures within the confinement were unusually cold, and that the cotton clothing provided to detainees was inappropriate, making it difficult to stay warm.
Thomas Wilner, an attorney representing Gitmo inmates, told RT that Obama is behind the decision to release Guantanamo prisoners, but does not consider it a top priority. The White House is interested in closing the prison, but is not directly involved in solving the issue and "delegate" to other people, Wilner told RT, calling for pressure on the administration "to step in and solve this."
According to the attorney, conditions in the facility will likely be improved in the near future so that "innocent men won't die to protest."
March 29
The Pentagon's daily briefing does not address the 7-week-long, biggest-in-years Guantanamo hunger strike. RT's Gayane Chichakyan, who was present at the news conference, says Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did not say a word about the Guantanamo protest.
"As you know half of the men at Guantanamo have been cleared for release, yet they are still there, locked up, stuck in this limbo, desperate. And I was going to ask, when they will let these men go and whether this would make any difference if somebody died in this ongoing hunger strike… I never got the chance to ask that question," the RT correspondent said.
The Pentagon previously requested almost $200 million to renovate the Guantanamo prison, which means the US is unlikely to close the facility in the near future.
Rather than improving, conditions at the infamous detention center are actually getting worse, says Cindy Panuco, a lawyer for one of the prisoners.
"It appears that the guards are trying to end the hunger strike by making conditions more difficult for the prisoners here, including making the camp very cold," she told RT.
Russia hopes for access to citizen held at Gitmo
A statement posted at the Russian Foreign Ministry's website by top human rights official Konsantin Dolgov said that Russian diplomats are concerned by the news of the Guantanamo hunger strike, and are particularly worried over the fate of a Russian citizen at the detention facility.
"We hope that the US will provide consular access to a Russian citizen, Ravil Mingazov, who has been held at the Guantanamo prison for quite a long time without trial. We consider that violation of his legal rights and interests is inadmissible," Dolgov wrote.
Mingazov was arrested in Pakistan in 2002; no official charges have been brought against him.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's statement also called on the US government to "hear the recommendations of the international human rights community and finally take effective measures to close the Guantanamo prison as soon as possible."
March 28
A group of human rights lawyers has filed an emergency motion with a federal court in Washington, saying Gitmo inmates were denied drinking water and forced to cope with extremely low temperatures.
The motion is based on information a detainee provided in a phone conversation with his attorney. The allegations of mistreatment were denied by the prison's spokesperson, Navy Capt. Robert Durand.
The White House has broken its silence over the seven-week-long hunger strike at Gitmo: "I can tell you that the White House and the president's team is closely monitoring the hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay," President Obama's spokesperson Joshua Earnest said, according to AFP. "I can tell you that the administration remains committed to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay."
Speaking to RT, the former US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs under Barack Obama, P.J. Crowley, explained that Obama's hands have been tied by lawmakers, who put a ban on transferring detainees to the mainland US. "It clearly is the United States Congress that's basically frozen the situation in place," Crowley said.
Camp Delta at Guantanamo Naval Base (AFP Photo / Mark Wilson)
March 27
The US Military admits that the number of Guantanamo inmates on hunger strike has risen to 31.
The deteriorating situation at the detention center prompts the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to send a doctor and another delegate to Guantanamo a week earlier than planned.
Guantanamo inmates are experiencing an "increasing level of desperation," Simon Schorno from the International Committee of the Red Cross told RT, blaming Guantanamo's poor legal regulations for the plight of its inmates.
"From our observations those tensions and this anguish that the detainees are experiencing are clearly related to the lack of a clear legal framework in Guantanamo," Schorno said. "This has now been having a real impact for detainees for some time – on their mental health, on their emotional health."
Two delegates from the Red Cross arrived on Monday in order to "get a better sense of the current tensions and the hunger-strike, to speak with the detainees directly and also with the authorities to get their perspective of what is going on," Schorno added.
March 26
Federal public defender Carlos Warner has obtained a note from his client Faiz al-Kandari, who was indefinitely detained in Guantanamo and is not on the list of 86 innocent men who are cleared for release. Warner told RT what Kandari has to say:
"I scare myself when I look in the mirror. Let them kill us as we have nothing to lose. We died when Obama indefinitely detained us. Respect us or kill us. It is your choice. The US must take off its mask and kill us."
March 25
Three detainees have been hospitalized for dehydration, while ten other participants of the hunger strike are being force-fed liquid nutrients, according to the prison's officials. The inmate is reportedly shackled to a chair while a feeding tube is inserted into his nose.
March 24
In a gesture of solidarity with Guantanamo Bay prisoners, activists across the world have launched a week-long fast. The action, organized by the Guantanamo prisoners support group Witness Against Torture (WAT), is to last through March 30. Some activists plan to continue fasting every Friday until the prison is closed, the group says.
The fast will be accompanied by public gatherings to protest against the existence of Guantanamo prison and the condition of people held there.
"We will gather for action in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities domestically and internationally next week to denounce the barbaric practice of torture and indefinite detention and to demand justice for the men at Guantanamo," WAT says.
A detainee speaks with a US military guard (R) inside Camp VI at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.(AFP Photo / Paul J. Richards)
March 23
Lt. Col Barry Wingard, an attorney who advocates for Guantanamo detainees, told RT that his client has lost almost 40 pounds – 1/3 of his body weight.
As the hunger strike enters its 46th day, Wingard doesn't believe it will prompt the US government to deliver justice to the detainees.
"I'm here to tell you that after 11 ½ years, these men that live in animal cages in America's offshore prison in Guantanamo Bay, they ask for justice. They've been there 11 ½ years. Ninety per cent of them have no charges," he told RT.
Wingard added that the men will never get trials, based upon the evidence that is against them.
March 22
The number of Guantanamo Bay detainees on hunger strike has increased to 26, up one from the previous day, Guantanamo Bay spokesman Capt. Robert Durand told RT via email on Friday following a written request.
"As of Friday, 22 March 2013, we have 26 hunger strikers, with 8 receiving enteral feeds. This an increase from Thursday, which was 25/8. Tuesday and Wednesday, it was the 24/8, Monday, 21/8, and Friday, 14/8.
We have two detainees in the detainee hospital for rehydration and observation, on enteral feed. We have two other detainee in the detainee hospital for non-hunger strike, non-life threatening treatment," Durand said.
The Pentagon has been accused of underestimating the number of inmates on hunger strike. The New-York based Center for Constitutional Rights slammed the US government for "not admitting scale and scope" of the strike, saying they had received reports that 130 inmates were involved in the protest.
It's going to take the American people to demand Guantanamo Bay prison facilities be closed, former Gitmo prison official Ret. Col. Morris Davis told RT. Until the issue catches the public's attention, there is little hope for improvement, he says.
"A majority of the men at Guantanamo -- 86 of the 106 who have been cleared for transfer -- have been in confinement now for more than a decade in some cases," Davis said. "So to them... the only way to potentially call attention to it is to do something drastic like a hunger strike."
Meanwhile, US military officials are requesting funding for construction of a new building in Guantanamo Bay, as well as for maintenance on the existing facility. The new project could cost American taxpayers a sum approaching $49 million.
March 21
During a conversation with RT Dr. Terry Kupers, a California psychologist and author of Prison Madness: The Mental Health Crisis Behind Bars and What We Must Do About It, tried to answer some of the same questions that have boggled Guantanamo Bay critics since the prison opened in early 2002. While a hunger strike may initially seem illogical, Kupers praised the inmates for exerting one of the few actions within their capabilities in trying to attract international attention. He also pointed to another less-discussed result of long period of time behind bars: prisoners read up on their rights, learning the legal ramifications of their dire situation.
RT asks British Govt about UK citizens case amid ongoing Guantanamo hunger strike
Among the many prisoners of Camp Delta's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay one British citizen remains, despite being cleared for release over five years ago. A national of a key US ally, RT recently sought an explanation from the UK government.
Shaker Aamer, the 44-year-old British resident, has been incarcerated at Guantanamo for 11 years without any charges ever brought against him.
A father of four, Saudi national Aamer is the last British citizen remaining in Guantanamo Bay prison, despite being cleared for release as early as 2007.
In his letters, prisoner Shaker Aamer appeals in desperation to his captors and the outside world:
"Please … torture me in the old way. Here they destroy people mentally and physically without leaving marks."
Following the developments of the hunger strike at Guantanamo detainment facility, RT sent a formal enquiry to the British Foreign Office. In our letter we asked the Foreign Office to comment on the hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where a British resident is being kept among detainees, and whether the British government plans to take any measures to resolve the situation.
In a statement answering RT's inquiry, a spokesperson of Foreign and Commonwealth Office stated the following.
"The UK has long held that indefinite detention without review or fair trial is unacceptable and we welcome President Obama's continuing commitment to closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and to maintain a lawful, sustainable and principled regime for the handling of detainees there."
The answer contains no exact information neither on the British citizen being held captive in a US prison, nor on the hunger strike of several Guantanamo prisoners that continues for six weeks already.
As for the US President's 'continuing commitment', it was Barack Obama who promised to close down Guantanamo Bay prison during his presidential campaign in 2008 and who has already returned to the White House for his second presidential term, without any change on the horizon. As such blame for alleged mistreatment at Guantanamo appears less easily labeled a President Bush era problem.
In December 2012 the lawyers of Shaker Aamer filed legal papers with both the UK's home and foreign secretaries claiming that British secret services made "knowingly false statements" to the US authorities concerning their client. According to the filed documents, UK's MI5 and MI6 claimed Shaker Aamer was recruiting people to fight for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan after the 9/11 and that he was paid directly by Bin Laden – without producing any reliable evidence.
March 20
Marine Corps General John Kelly, who spoke at the House Armed Services Committee in Washington on Wednesday, gave the reasons behind the prisoners' hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay. He explained that the prisoners
"had great optimism that Guantanamo would be closed. They were devastated apparently ... when the president backed off, at least (that's) their perception, of closing the facility." He also re-iterated the prison administration's earlier statement about the desecration of the Koran – a topic of contention and one of the main contributing factors to the ongoing hunger strike – saying that any claims of desecration are "nonsense" . He went on to say that in "no way has the Koran in any way, shape or form been abused or mistreated" and that he had been presented with copies of the "Sacred Koran" by senior Muslim clerics while he was on duty in Iraq. Finally, he added that while it is known that non-believers are allowed to touch the book, the only personnel who had been doing so at Guantanamo were Muslim translators.
Kelly heads the US military's Southern Command for the Latin America region in Miami. The body also oversees the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba.
Former Congressman Dennis Kucinich tells RT the situation in Guantanamo represents the US as a country "abandoning its constitutional principles, because when prisoners are under US control and discretion they should have the same rights that any other prisoner would have. They should have the right to be told the charges against them, the right to a speedy trial, [the] right to habeas corpus, which would enable them to be released if charges against them can't be levied."
Stephen Soldz, clinical psychologist, who was a consultant when previous hunger strikes happened at Guantanamo prison, explains in an interview to RT, that Guantanamo inmates are frustrated to the point they are reluctant to communicate with the only people who are allowed to visit them – their lawyers.
"Those men would tell their attorneys, 'I don't want to talk with you. What's the point of talking with you? I only want to know the date I'm going out of here.' But there is no date. People can't accept being completely powerless and hopeless," Soldz says.
RT received a letter from the US Department of Justice saying it was not authorized to comment upon the Guantanamo hunger strike and suggesting RT to address the Defense Department for any interview regarding the status of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
"The Defense Department oversees the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and is responsible for its operations – not the Justice Department," said the letter written by Dean Boyd, Spokesman for the US Department of Justice.
However earlier, on March 4, prison spokesman, Navy Capt. Robert Durand, pointed at the Department of Justice as the body to respond to attorneys' letters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's Commissioner for Human Rights, Konstantin Dolgov, spoke of the need to close Guantanamo in an interview to RT .
"I don't think there's lack of reaction from the international community. What's obviously lacking is political will on behalf of the US government to bring the solution of the problem to its logical end. And the only logical end can be liquidation of this, let's put it straight, shameful facility," he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry is concerned with the destiny of a Russian citizen among the Guantanamo detainees.
Famous American human rights activist, Angela Davis calls for closure of Guantanamo in a French daily L'Humanité, AFP reports.
"This tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War makes us, finally, question the further existence of Guantanamo. On this sad date we must come up with a stronger and more resolute call for closure of the Guantanamo prison," Davis wrote.
Front gate of "Camp Six" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jim Watson)
March 19
The UN Human Rights body responds to mounting media coverage of the Guantanamo crisis. In a letter answering RT's inquiry, spokesman for the High Commissioner says the office is looking into the details of the mass hunger strike.
"While aware of some of the allegations of mistreatment of inmates said to have provoked the hunger strike - which include undue interference with the inmates' personal effects - we are still trying to confirm the details," the letter says.
The statement from the office of the High Commissioner goes on to say UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has "repeatedly regretted that the US Government has not closed Guantanamo Bay."
She is concerned with fact that the National Defense Authorization Act has created obstacles for the closure of Guantanamo and also trial of detainees in civilian courts, as well as failure to release those cleared of allegations.
Guantanamo Communications director Captain Robert Durand says the number of detainees on hunger strike reached 24. Still, he rejects claims by the detainees' attorneys that the majority of inmates are involved in the protest.
March 18
Navy Capt. Robert Durand says 21 Guantanamo Bay prisoners are now on a hunger strike. Eight men are being fed with a liquid nutrient mix to prevent dangerous weight loss from occurring, while two others are at the prison hospital being treated with dehydration.
In a letter to RT, Durand said "the reports of hunger-strike related deteriorating health and detainees losing massive amounts of weight are simply untrue."
However, lawyers for Guantanamo inmates maintain the strike is more widespread than the military acknowledges - and a former Gitmo prisoner agrees.
Omar Deghayes was held at Guantanamo Bay for five years before being released without charge. While participating in hunger strikes at the prison, Deghayes recalls hearing the same "rhetoric" from the US military.
"The rhetoric that [Durand] is describing is something that we went through many times when we were inside Guantanamo on hunger strikes. They used to say the same false things that I'm hearing now. They'd say 'the number is small' or 'there is no hunger strike,' or 'we treat people with dignity,'" he told RT.
March 17
The London Guantanamo Campaign holds a demonstration outside the US embassy in London to "raise awareness about the hunger strike, which has more or less – at least in Britain – been ignored by the mainstream media," the campaign's coordinator, Aisha Maniar, tells RT.
"We've been in contact with some of the lawyers who have been [to Guantanamo] over the last week and they've been reporting that when they have met their clients, that their health has been pretty poor," Maniar says.
Protestors wear suits similar to those worn by detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison during a demonstration in central London (AFP Photo / Leon Neal)
March 16
Attorneys for at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, say that a general hunger strike involving many of the 166 detainees who remain incarcerated there has entered its second month.
However, the US 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.
"Our understanding is that based on previous standards, the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that Guantanamo makes. What those standards are, what the criteria are, are questions that they need to be asked. How are they defining hunger striker and when are they determining that someone needs to be tube fed? And if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion, then I think that explains how they are able to say that there are no more than a handful of men on hunger strike," Pardiss Kebriaei, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo, tells RT.
Two detainees shackled to the floor during recreation time in Cell Block A in the "Camp Six" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jim Watson)
March 15
Guantanamo detention center spokesperson, Navy Capt. Robert Durand said in a letter to RT that the number of protesting inmates reached 14 people, five more than they had previously reported. He however stressed "the reports of hunger-strike related deteriorating health and detainees losing massive amounts of weight are simply untrue."
Durand also stated one of the strikers was taken to the prison hospital, five others were being fed through tubes put through their noses into their stomachs, while eight others are not yet sufficiently malnourished to merit such treatment.
Durand denied that the hunger strike is "a widespread phenomenon, as alleged," by the captives' lawyers, and accused them of spreading "outright falsehoods and gross exaggerations." He downplayed the reports of a mass hunger 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.
Durand confirmed the reports that some of the detainees had their Korans taken from them, but called it an attempt at manipulation: "If we accept their Koran, it would be portrayed as either an admission that it required protection and safekeeping, or as a confiscation by the guard force, depriving them of the religious articles needed to practice their faith."
He also insisted that all searches are conducted in a regular way, and that no mistreatment of Muslim holy books has taking place at Gitmo.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which visited the island prison from February 18 to 23, gave an interview to RT, saying that the "ICRC believes past and current tensions at Guantanamo to be the direct result of the uncertainty faced by detainees."
The secrecy maintained by the prison and the communication barriers in place have been an obstacle for human rights organizations for years, Rob Freer of Amnesty International told in an interview to RT.
"We have to wait until a detainee is released, before we can speak to them. This leads to underreporting on individual detainee cases and at least to a time lag. The lawyers themselves are not there the whole time and it requires declassification of certain information when they do get to," he said.
March 14
The health of prisoners held in Kafkaesque limbo at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has deteriorated alarmingly after over 100 inmates went on a protest hunger strike five weeks ago.
The detainees have claimed that most of them are involved in the do-or-die hunger strike, and their attorneys have become concerned about the prisoners' worsening health.
"By Day 45 we understand from medical experts there are serious health repercussions that start happening. Loss of hearing, potential blindness," Pardiss Kebriaei, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo, tells RT. "The potential there is for death as well if the hunger strike continues for weeks."
Her client has allegedly lost 20lbs (9kg) since the beginning of the strike. The collective protest was reportedly triggered by the prison staff's seizure of the inmates' personal belongings. The hunger strike began on February 6, with the prisoners protesting against the confiscation of their personal letters, photographs and legal mail, as well as the allegedly sacrilegious handling of their Korans during searches of their cells.
The real challenge for the detainees is to make themselves heard by means of the hunger strike. Their lawyers have sent a letter to the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urging him to take action to end the protest.
"It's really an abominable humanitarian situation where you're depriving these people of life and liberty and for no really valid basis," detainee lawyer Eric Montalvo told RT.
Prison officials have acknowledged that the hunger strike is taking place. However, they deny that it is a large-scale event: Nine detainees are refusing food, five of whom are being fed through tubes inserted into their stomachs, according to Robert Durand, director of public affairs for the Joint Task Force Guantanamo.
Durand also said that the claims of desecration of the Koran were unfounded.
"To be clear: there have been no incidents of desecration of the Koran by guards or translators, and nothing unusual happened during a routine search for contraband," he told AFP.
Reuters started reporting on the Gitmo hunger strike.
March 13
The detainee hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay's maximum-security prison is a last-resort cry for help from those who have spent years in custody without being charged, and who have no hope of release, anti-war activist Sara Flounders tells RT.
March 12
"What we did last week was send a letter on behalf of the attorneys who have received direct information, asking questions and reporting what we have heard from our clients to the authorities at Guantanamo, and copying the Department of Justice. Asking for their side of the story and to respond, seeking a quick resolution to what's going on. We've received no response from that letter so far. At this point, the strike is more than 30 days old and by Day 45, we understand from medical experts there are serious health repercussions that start happening," Pardiss Kebriaei, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo, tells RT.
Meanwhile, geopolitical analyst Ryan Dawson tells RT that the prisoners were left with little recourse other than a hunger strike. The prisoners had a previous hunger strike in 2005, which led to the hospitalization of 18 people.
"What I find disgusting in this one is the US is denying the strike is as large as it is and downplaying it, saying its only a few inmates but they've had to admit that at least five are being force-fed through tubes in their stomachs, so this is obviously real…Its hard to get lower than Guantanamo Bay. A lot of these men are detained without trial, some without even charges. That doesn't mean they're innocent, but it doesn't mean they're guilty either. And the problem is secrecy. When you have this level of secrecy, you're just creating an environment for abuse because they are basically human beings with no rights," Dawson said.
Two members of the US Navy standing in the hallway in Cell Block C in the "Camp Five" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jim Watson)
March 11
"My client and other men have reported that most of the detainees in Camp 6 are on strike, except for a small few who are elderly or sick," Pardiss Kebriaei, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo, Pardiss Kebriaei tells RT. Men have reported coughed up blood, lost consciousness and were forced to move to other wings of the facility for observation.
March 10
"We have to understand that all the inmates at Guantanamo bay are devout Muslims so desecrating a Koran for them is the last blow to their dignity. It is of extreme importance to them and according to them they are imprisoned because they are Muslim and that's kind of proving their point. Unfortunately that's something that was quite common under [President George W.] Bush. We thought [President] Obama would be more thoughtful to Muslim beliefs but we are seeing that's not the case…for people who have been incarcerated for 11 years, been away from their families for 11 years, have not been charged for for 11 years, its understandable that taking what is a small item to us is nothing, but to them it is basically their life… the main question is not why they are being treated like that in prison, but why are they in prison, because they have been cleared for release," Arnaud Mafille, an activist with Cageprisoners Human Rights group, tells RT.
March 09
"The current tensions in Guantanamo, as far as we can see and as far as we understand, are really the result of the uncertainty faced by the detainees in Guantanamo – the uncertainty linked to their fate, what is going to happen to them. There is a lack of clear, legal framework for their dentition. Most of them don't know what is going to happen to them. So it has always been our position that there needs to be a clear, legal framework and a transparent process in terms of procedural safeguards for the detainees. It needs to be transparent and fair to alleviate the emotional and mental strain that the uncertainty triggers for the detainees," Simon Schorno, spokesperson for the International Red Cross in North America, tells RT.
Guards moving a detainee from his cell in Cell Block A of the "Camp Six" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jim Watson)
March 08
Washington-based attorney David Remes tells CBS News that as of March 8, six detainees he represents had refused food for 36 days, skipping 102 meals, and each man said he had lost at least 30lbs (13.6kg).
"It was quite noticeable," Remes says. "The men I saw were weak, tired, chilled, and had lost a substantial amount of weight."
One of those detainees, Yasin Qassem Muhammad Ismail, from Yemen, who followed up with a phone call to Remes on Wednesday, told the attorney that he now weighed 109lbs (49kg), down from 150lbs (68kg).
March 05
After meeting their client, Fayiz al-Kandari's team of military lawyers report that al-Kandari said that the hunger strike "certainly hurts physically," but he felt "very sorry for his parents whose psychological pain is 10 times greater than his physical discomfort."
Attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents a Yemeni detained at Guantanamo, says attorney reports of the hunger strike are consistent.
"What we understand for our clients – and this is coming from every attorney that has either been down to Guantanamo since February or has communicated with their client in some form through letters or phone calls – is that there has been a hunger strike going on at among almost all of the men in Camp 6 at Guantanamo, which is the largest facility at Guantanamo. They have been refusing all food, only drinking water, tea, and coffee, since early February," Pardiss Kebriaei tells RT.
March 04
America's infamous Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba has reportedly become the scene of a widespread hunger strike – now in its third week – yet on Monday a prison spokesman denied that any such activity was taking place.
The lawyers for the prisoners said in a letter to the prison commander, that "all but a few men" are on hunger strike and that their condition "appears to be rapidly deteriorating and reaching a potentially critical level."
The protest can best be summed up with a statement that the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) sent to military officials. They wrote that "since approximately February 6, 2013, camp authorities have been confiscating detainees' personal items, including blankets, sheets, towels, mats, razors, toothbrushes, books, family photos, religious CDs, and letters, including legal mail; and restricting their exercise, seemingly without provocation or cause." Moreover, "Arabic interpreters employed by the prison have been searching the men's Korans in ways that constitute desecration according to their religious beliefs, and that guards have been disrespectful during prayer times."
Standard items issued to a detainee in the "Camp Five" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jim Watson)
A prison spokesman said that the Department of Justice will address the lawyers' letter of complaint, he also claimed that there had only been six people on strike for a year now. Other detainees simply didn't skip enough meals to be considered on strike at all, according to military rules. The spokesman, Navy Capt. Robert Durand, said that "some detainees have attempted to coordinate a hunger strike and have refused meal deliveries. Most detainees are not participating." He tried to describe the reasons the inmates had for going on strike as blown out of proportion, claiming that they "have chosen one routine search in early February as the rallying point for their grievances."
March 2
Colonel Barry Waingard, who was assigned by the Pentagon to defend the Kuwaiti detainee at Guantanamo prison Fayez Al-Kandari, reveals that the Kuwaiti detainees Fayez Al-Kandari and Fawzi Al-Awda went on a hunger strike with other prisoners and lost nearly 10kg each, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported.
Waingard said in a statement that the detainees went on a hunger strike because they are being ill-treated inside the prison, indicating at the same time that the detainees have now realized death is the only way out of the prison.
February 28
The lawyers confirm that Fayiz al-Kandari's weight loss over the previous three-and-a-half weeks had reached 26lbs (12kg).
February 27
The team of lawyers reports, "Today, we had a communication with the Kuwait legal team concerning Fayiz and Fawzi's physical condition in GTMO. It is difficult meeting with a man who has not eaten in almost three weeks, but we are scheduled for an all-day session tomorrow which we are sure Fayiz will not be able to complete due his failing physical condition. Additionally, we learned that our other client Abdul Ghani, [an Afghan] who has been cleared for release since 2010, is also on a hunger strike. Eleven years without an opportunity to defend themselves."
Member of the military asking for enterance at the front gate of "Camp Five" and "Camp Six" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jim Watson)
February 26
Fayiz al-Kandari's team of military lawyers announces, "Fayiz has lost more than 20lbs (9kg) and lacks the ability to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time due to a camp-wide hunger strike. Apparently there is a dispute over searches and the confiscations. We believe there is a desperation setting amongst the prisoners whereby GTMO is forgotten and its condemned men will never get an opportunity to prove their innocence or be free."
February 25
Fayiz al-Kandari's team of military lawyers arrives at the prison.
February 23
Reports first begin to emerge about a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay.
The following message appeared on the "Free Fayiz and Fawzi" page on Facebook, run by lawyers for Fayiz al-Kandari and Fawzi al-Odah, the last two Kuwaitis in the prison: "Information is beginning to come out about a hunger strike, the size of which has not been seen since 2008. Preliminary word is that it's due to unprecedented searches and a new guard force."
February 6
The Guantanamo Bay hunger strike reportedly began on or around this date.
