Guantánamo Bay: Ill-treatment and Health Concerns about Detainees

For February 2009, Group 141 (Orange) highlighted the health situation of prisoners at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in conjunction with their work on the 100 Days campaign.

[In February 2009], we ask[ed] our members to write a letter regarding treatment of detainees at at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Approximately 50 detainees held in military custody at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are currently on hunger strike. The majority of the hunger strikers are being force-fed by the Guantánamo authorities. The forcefeeding methods may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In addition, Amnesty International is concerned by reports of the use of excessive force against hunger strikers when being extracted from their cells, and the blanket use of the restraint chair during force-feeding, even in the case of detainees who do not resist.

Amongst the complaints:

• the nasal force-feeding tube is sometimes mistakenly inserted in the windpipe, but a prisoner who is gagged is unable to inform the nurse when this happens;
• prisoners are strapped in the restraint chair for several hours even though the procedure may last only fifteen minutes;
• a prisoner with a digestive ailment is refused the special diet recommended by nutritionists;
• the nasal tubes are inserted without any anesthetic and the hunger strikers are reported to regularly bleed and suffer from intense pain as a result of the insertion and removal of the tubes.

Background information:

Urgent Action, February 2009, which was used as a basis for this page (PDF document)

Amnesty International report on Ahmed Zuhair, 23 December 2008. Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair began a hunger-strike in mid-2005, and has been force-fed since August 2005. According to his lawyer, his health has deteriorated significantly since August 2008, and is now a cause for serious concern.

USA: The promise of real change — President Obama’s executive orders on detentions and interrogations. Amnesty International Report, 30 January 2009

Take Action

Write a short message, to arrive as quickly as possible, including the following points:

• welcoming President Obama’s decision to close the Guantánamo detention facility and noting the review he ordered into the conditions in which the detainees are held;
• however, expressing serious concern at reports that Guantánamo detainees on hunger strike have been force-fed in a manner which may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and at reports of the use of excessive force during cell extractions of hunger strikers, and the blanket use of the restraint chair;
• calling for all the detainees who have participated, or who continue to participate in the hunger strike, to be given immediate access to adequate medical care and treatment;
• calling on the US authorities to include the methods of force-feeding in their ongoing review of the conditions of detention at Guantánamo and to ensure that all detainees are treated in accordance with all applicable international law and standards;
• calling for all the Guantánamo detainees to be immediately released unless they are promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offense and tried in full accordance with international standards for fair trial in US federal courts.

Send your appeals to:

The Honorable Robert M. Gates
US Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington DC 20301
Fax: 1 703 571 8951
Salutation: Dear Secretary of Defense

The Honorable Eric H. Holder
Attorney General
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fax: 1 202 307 6777
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Salutation: Dear Attorney General

Admiral Patrick M. Walsh
Department of the Navy
2000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20350-2000
Email via website: http://www.navy.mil/submit/contacts.asp
Salutation: Dear Admiral

February 2009 action