Military officials describe the hunger strike as an attempt to build public sympathy and opposition to the detention center, which on Jan. 11 marked its fifth anniversary of existence at the isolated U.S. military base in Cuba. But human rights groups say the strike reflects prisoners' despair.

"I don't see it as at all curious that they should be desperate enough to starve themselves," said Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA.

The number of participants stood at five one month ago, officials said. No information on who the new hunger strikers are was immediately available. The military rarely releases details on individual detainees.

The jump in the number of strikers comes as Guantanamo's critics are using its fifth anniversary to call for the prison to close.

The U.S. government says it needs to keep men deemed "enemy combatants" under guard, but many prisoners protest they are innocent. Guantanamo Bay received its first prisoners on Jan. 11, 2002, and currently holds about 395 foreign men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

Among the hunger strikers are two prisoners who began refusing food in August 2005, near the start of a hunger strike that reached a peak participation of 131 that year, according to Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a Guantanamo Bay spokesman. Most detainees abandoned the protest as the military adopted more aggressive force-feeding methods, including a restraint chair.

The military classifies a detainee as a hunger striker after he refuses nine consecutive meals. Most begin eating again before they are subjected to force-feeding, officials said in December.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 13, 2007
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