UK/Cuba: Amnesty calls for UK action on Guantanamo hunger strike
01 September 2005
Amnesty International and Reprieve, the UK charity that protects the rights of people facing the death penalty, have called on the government to "urgently intervene to help prevent unnecessary loss of life from the ongoing hunger strike at the US interrogation centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." At least six UK residents joined the hunger strike in August; they are among an estimated 210 hunger strikers. Amnesty and Reprieve have called on prime minister, Tony Blair:
to make an immediate assessment of the number of British residents on hunger strike, ascertain the gravity of their medical condition, and obtain from the US authorities a guarantee that an independent body is given access to all UK residents on hunger strike.
Clive Stafford-Smith, the Legal Director of Reprieve and a lawyer who is acting on behalf of some of the Guantanamo detainees, has renewed calls for an independent inspection of the interrogation facility following allegations that at least 20 of the hunger strikers had been force-fed by the US military. Stafford-Smith said that prisoners were being force-fed through tubes in their noses:
To have my clients being restrained against their will with a tube forced down their noses, after all they have been through, just makes me sick.
Also in October US President George W. Bush suffered a rebuff to his policy of extending the parameters governing the use of torture against non-US nationals in Iraq and at Guantanamo when Republican and Democratic members of the Senate insisted on clear rules on the techniques used during interrogation. The Senate voted by 90 to nine to amend a $440 military spending measure to include the restrictions, despite warnings from the White House that it would harm its ability to fight its so-called "war on terror". Bush has said that he will veto the measure.
The UK resident and Libyan citizen, Omar Degahayes is among the prisoners who went on hunger-strike in protest at their continued detention without trial and appalling living conditions. Stafford-Smith informed Omar's family of the action. The men, frustrated at their continued detention in contravention of international law, have said that they intend to starve themselves to death in an attempt to draw attention to their plight, which has been largely ignored by the world's governments. The hunger strike resumes a widespread protest that ended last July and was provoked by new allegations of violent interrogations and desecration of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
Stafford-Smith's information about the hunger strike came from his client, Binyam Mohammed, a British refugee from Ethiopa. His notes of his conversation with Mohammed are still censored by the American authorities, but have been "partially declassified". Stafford-Smith's gagging speaks volumes. He told the Boston Globe newspaper: "This is all that is unclassified for now, but you can imagine that there is much more." He continued:
This is very urgent, as you can infer from the statement that if they stopped eating on August 11 or so, this means that some of them could be getting in serious physical problems by the next week or so.
It is thought that between 200 and 500 prisoners participated in last July's hunger strike, resulting in several dozen people being hospitalised, some requiring intravenous fluids. The US military said that only 100 people participated, but there is no independent verification of this because the US forbids any independent monitoring. The hunger strike ended at the end of July when the military gave guarantees regarding living conditions and promised that the prisoners would receive fair trials.
Reprieve has initiated a picket of the UK's sole handcuff exporter, Hiatt and company which is located in Perry Bar, Birmingham, West Midlands, because it makes the shackles that are used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The firm, whose parent company is Central Industry Limited, has a distribution<