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Published on Thursday, February 28, 2002 by the Associated Press
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Guantanamo Detainees on Hunger
Strike |
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by Andres Leighton |
| GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba ––
More than a third of the detainees being held at this remote military
outpost refused to eat their breakfasts Thursday, telling their captors
their hunger strike was prompted by two guards who stripped an inmate of
his turban during prayer.
A small number of inmates refused both lunch and dinner on Wednesday and more than a third declined breakfast Thursday, said Marine Maj. Stephen Cox, a spokesman for the detention mission at Guantanamo. "The detainees informed the duty officer that the refusal to eat is in response to an incident that took place regarding a detainee two days ago on Tuesday," Cox said Thursday. The detainee had fashioned a turban out of a sheet and was wearing it on his head during prayer. Two military guards ordered the inmate to remove the turban, but the inmate ignored the order, Cox said. When a translator made the same order, the inmate still refused. The two guards shackled the man and then stripped him of his turban, Cox said. "The two guards followed the proper procedures," Cox said. It wasn't immediately clear why the guards decided the turban had to come off; detainees often have been seen wearing their white towels on their heads. The military says the 300 prisoners being held here are fighters of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network and the deposed Afghan Taliban regime that harbored it. Since the prisoners arrived at this U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba last month, officials have said the men pose a danger not only to the troops, but also to themselves. Some Islamic groups preach that dying in a holy war guarantees a place in heaven – the mantra of suicide bombers in Israel and that of the hijackers who flew passenger jets into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. © 2002 The Associated Press ### |
Title: Message
