Gitmo Hunger Strikers Forced Into Single Cells

US troops battle prisoners in pre-dawn raid
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 13, 2013 2:46 PM CDT
Gitmo Hunger Strikers Forced Into Single Cells
A Guantanamo detainee's feet are shackled to the floor as he attends a "Life Skills" class inside the Camp 6 high-security detention facility on Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base.   (AP Photo/Michelle Shephard, Pool)

Over two months into their hunger strike, detainees at Guantanamo Bay today clashed with US forces who moved them from communal cell blocks to maximum security single cells. "Some detainees resisted with improvised weapons, and in response, four less-than-lethal rounds were fired," the prison camp said in a statement. "There were no serious injuries to guards or detainees." Troops performed the pre-dawn raid during a media blackout, just hours after Red Cross delegates had left the prison, the Miami Herald reports.

A letter written by a Gitmo detainee claims that another prisoner moved from a communal camp to isolation cells tried to hang himself in his cell, though military officials deny it, reports the Guardian. Other hunger strikers may also be in danger: "There are people in critical condition. Death is a distinct possibility," said a lawyer who represents the hunger strikers. Advocates for the detainees say there are now over 100 prisoners participating in the hunger strikes, but the US military puts the number at 40—11 of whom it says are now being force-fed. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)

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