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The Minnesota Daily

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Guantanamo prisoner details hunger strike

An 11 year detainee in Guantanamo Bay described his experience refusing food since Feb. 10 in an op-ed column in the New York Times Monday.

The prisoner, Samir Naji al-Hasan Moqbel, is a Yemeni man accused of serving as one Osama Bin Laden's guard. Al-hasan denies those accusations and has refused food to bring attention to the controversial prison.

He's not the only one. The Washington Post reported that up to 43 prisoners were on hunger strike by mid-April.

Al-hasan described in detail the painful force feeding he said he's been enduring as a result of refusing food. In one instance, he said, a feeding tube was inserted through his nose and put up to 18 inches deep into his stomach, a painful procedure.

The mass hunger strike led to a clash with guards over the weekend, the Guardian reported.

Al-hasan said he's not allowed to leave the prison because President Barack Obama refuses to send detainees back to Yemen.

"I am a human being, not a passport, and I deserve to be treated like one," he said.

The Washington Post reports that dozens of Guantanamo prisoners have been cleared for release but the Obama administration hasn't found a place for them to be released to.

Yemen's president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who generally has a close relation to the Unites States, has criticized the continued detainment of cleared-for-release Yemenis.

“We believe that keeping someone in prison for over 10 years without due process is clear-cut tyranny,” he said.

 

 

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