US force-feeds Guantanamo detainees on hunger strike (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-01-10 11:26
The U.S. military is force-feeding 32 of 43 "war on terror" detainees who are
on a hunger strike in the U.S. naval base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, Associated
Press reported Monday.
Several detainees have refused to eat for several months, Lieutenant Colonel
Jeremy Martin, director of public affairs, was quoted as saying.
"There is a core group that is very committed," Martin said, adding that they
counseled the detainees on the hazards of a long-term hunger strike.
If the detainees become weak or malnourished, they are force-fed with
intravenously or through a tube inserted through the nose to reach the stomach.
Guantanamo holds about 500 detainees. Most of them were captured in
Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on the United
States.
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