One-third of the prisoners at Camp X-Ray have begun a hunger-strike after one of them was told to remove a home-made turban while praying.
Although the BBC is reporting this afternoon that as many as two thirds of the prisoners are now striking.
A total of 107 of the 300 prisoners refused
to eat dinner last night because of the incident on Wednesday evening and then continued not to take their meals yesterday in the first instance of organised insubordination.
Officials said prisoners at the camp were not allowed to wear turbans because they could conceal weapons. The camp's Naval Muslim cleric is now negotiating with the prisoners.
"The incident happened when one of the detainees created a turban-like headpiece – either from his towel or his blanket," said a spokesman for the US Southern Command, which oversees the naval base on the south-eastern tip of Cuba.
"The guards asked him to remove it, through a translator. He removed it on his own. This took place while he was praying." The spokesman said he believed that Lieutenant Abuhena Mohammad Saiful-Islam – a Muslim cleric and a member of the US Navy – was being used to urge the prisoners to end the hunger-strike.
"He has a good relationship with a number of the prisoners," he said. "I don't know what other techniques are used when you have a hunger-strike."
A spokesman for the British embassy in Washington said it had requested details about the incident from the Pentagon. The spokesman said it did not know whether any of the five British prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay was involved in the hunger strike.
- INDEPENDENT
