Detainees in Cuba Refuse to Eat After Cell Incident

A hunger strike broke out this week among most of the 300 detainees from the Afghanistan war being held at a makeshift prison here, triggered when a guard stripped a praying prisoner of his makeshift turban, authorities said Thursday.

More than half of the hunger strikers had resumed eating by nightfall, however, after the prison’s top official announced that detainees would be permitted to use their sheets as turbans.

The incident brought to the surface tensions that have built since the prisoners began arriving seven weeks ago, and led to noisy demands by the detainees to learn when and how their cases will be resolved.

The refusal to eat marks the first organized protest by the prisoners, who are locked up under heavy guard in temporary, outdoor wire cages.

In addition to turning down their meals, detainees erupted into organized, rhythmic chants that spread across cell blocks Thursday. “God is great!” they cried in Arabic. “There is no god but God!”

About half of them angrily pushed items out of their cells, including sheets, blankets and mattresses.

“There was no violence, no injuries,” said camp spokesman Maj. Steve Cox. “There was no confrontation between guards and detainees during the chanting or when they threw out their comfort items.”

But Cox said the military activated a special unit of soldiers in case the situation gets worse.

A total of 194 detainees, nearly two-thirds of the prison population, refused lunch Thursday. But the protest appeared to lose steam after Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert, who runs the prison, agreed to allow the inmates to create makeshift turbans.

Many quickly did just that. But Lehnert also warned, in his first address to the prison population, that the turbans will be subject to random inspections.

He also told them through an interpreter on a loudspeaker system that they soon will be allowed books in their cells, in addition to copies of the Koran.

By dinner time, the number of hunger strikers had fallen to 88.

Lehnert also spoke separately to his guards, saying that while security remains their top objective, they will undergo additional “cultural training” about the practices of Muslims and their religion.

The frustrations hit a boiling point Tuesday when an Army guard “interrupted” a detainee kneeling in prayer in his cell because he was violating prison rules by using a bedsheet to fashion a turban over his head, officials said.

That was against prison policy, which was designed to prevent weapons or other items from being hidden under headgear.

Authorities of the Joint Task Force that is running the prison acknowledged that the episode was an “unfortunate incident” and a “miscommunication” between the guard and the detainee.

Military officials here vowed that if the strike persists over the next several days and malnutrition sets in, authorities will force feed the protesters through IVs or other means.

“Nobody is going to starve at Camp X-Ray,” said Navy Capt. Albert J. Shimkus, commanding officer of the prison hospital. “We are not going to let anyone die.”

The incident began when the guard noted that a prisoner in his cell was wearing a turban, officials said. According to Cox, the guard repeatedly asked the detainee to take the sheet off, but the inmate did not respond. Finally, Cox said, the guard entered the cell, handcuffed the detainee and removed the wrap himself.

“It was an unfortunate incident because at that time the detainee was in the midst of his prayers,” Cox said. “That’s why there was this miscommunication. The guard apparently interrupted the service.”

Cox declined to identify the guard but said he was not disciplined.

“If we want to characterize it,” the major said, “I would say it was an honest mistake.”

Authorities also refused to identify the inmate, as they have declined to name any of the 300 prisoners, or divulge his nationality.

As news of the incident swept the camp, 159 prisoners launched a protest, refusing lunch Wednesday. The protest continued at subsequent meals and reached a high of 194 detainees by lunchtime Thursday.

The protest comes after a series of minor, isolated incidents between detainees and guards that has strained the already tight disciplinary conditions here. One prisoner tossed a shampoo bottle at a guard, for instance, and another bit a guard.

The military is treading new ground in confining such a large number of prisoners on a U.S. military base and has yet to receive any word from Washington on whether tribunals will be held here or elsewhere for the prisoners, or whether the inmates will simply be sent home.

Cox said the detainees are growing increasingly restless about their fate. Just this week, top officials at the Pentagon said that, while there may be a decision soon on when to begin conducting tribunals, it remains unclear if there will be many trials.

“Underlying all this is their uncertainty about their future,” Cox said. “They want to know what is going to happen to them, and when it is going to happen. The honest answer is that we tell them we don’t know.”

A spokesman for Amnesty International said the protest “highlights the dangers of the legal limbo into which the prisoners have been thrown.”

Detainees are daily given three meals that officials say adhere to their wishes, both culturally and religiously. For the Muslims, the meals are considered halal, or religiously appropriate for that faith.

The meals are usually heavy in vegetables and breads.

Breakfast is typically oatmeal, fresh bread and an orange. Lunch can be a pasta and vegetable stew, a box of raisins, two granola bars and a bag of chips. Dinner is often white rice, red beans, a banana and bread.

None of the detainees has refused water, officials said.

Authorities would not say whether the hunger protest is being organized by leaders who have emerged among the detainees.

Shimkus, of the prison hospital, said there are provisions for IVs and other procedures to feed the protesters in the Camp X-Ray infirmary.

“If necessary,” he said, “we will apply those procedures.”

Shimkus estimated that the detainees could go for two or three days before showing the first symptoms of malnutrition, such as tightened skin and lethargy. He added that the lethargy would break down their resistance to being force-fed.

Shimkus said that prolonged forced IVs might not keep a detainee alive, and he acknowledged that things could become difficult if “someone wants to die.”

However, Cox, the camp spokesman, said the task force will not let that happen. “Rest assured, there will not be a detainee who starves himself to death on Guantanamo Bay.”