Christians told of Guantanamo Bay hunger strike
-29/08/05
A senior human rights lawyer has told Greenbelt, the major UK Christian festival, that over 200 prisoners held by the US at Guantanamo Bay have been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks, according to Christian Todayís Daniel Blake.
Clive Stafford Smith has spent the past three years providing legal assistance to prisoners at the base in Cuba, and only returned a week ago. He told many of the 20,000 people gathered at Cheltenham racecourse, ìThe world needs to know that these guys are going to die in the next two to three weeks. They are starving themselves to death.î
The naval station Guantanamo Bay, which covers 116 square kilometres, was established in 1898, when America obtained control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War.
The use of the base as a military prison for suspects in the ëwar on terrorí, and insurgents from Iraq and Afghanistan, has sparked protests from around the globe. There have been many reports of torture and the abuse of detainees.
Information regarding the hunger strikers was classified until 27 August 2005 by the US military, though the strike itself began nearly three weeks ago. In July this year a similar event ended with five prisoners almost dying.
Mr Smith, legal director of Reprieve, a London-based human rights charity, declared that the prisoners were saying: ìWe ask only for justice: treat us, as promised, under the rules of the Geneva Convention for civilian prisoners while we are held, and either try us fairly for a valid criminal charge or set us free.î
Christians told of Guantanamo Bay hunger strike
-29/08/05
A senior human rights lawyer has told Greenbelt, the major UK Christian festival, that over 200 prisoners held by the US at Guantanamo Bay have been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks, according to Christian Today’s Daniel Blake.
Clive Stafford Smith has spent the past three years providing legal assistance to prisoners at the base in Cuba, and only returned a week ago. He told many of the 20,000 people gathered at Cheltenham racecourse, ‘The world needs to know that these guys are going to die in the next two to three weeks. They are starving themselves to death.’
The naval station Guantanamo Bay, which covers 116 square kilometres, was established in 1898, when America obtained control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War.
The use of the base as a military prison for suspects in the ëwar on terror’, and insurgents from Iraq and Afghanistan, has sparked protests from around the globe. There have been many reports of torture and the abuse of detainees.
Information regarding the hunger strikers was classified until 27 August 2005 by the US military, though the strike itself began nearly three weeks ago. In July this year a similar event ended with five prisoners almost dying.
Mr Smith, legal director of Reprieve, a London-based human rights charity, declared that the prisoners were saying: ‘We ask only for justice: treat us, as promised, under the rules of the Geneva Convention for civilian prisoners while we are held, and either try us fairly for a valid criminal charge or set us free.’