NYT op-ed by Gitmo detainee on hunger strike


"One man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago. I've been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not eat until they restore my dignity."—Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay since 2002, tells his story through an Arabic interpreter to his lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve in an unclassified telephone call. It was published Sunday in the New York Times as an op-ed.

In related news, the commander of the joint US task force at Guantanamo this weekend ordered all detainees to be put in solitary confinement. "The ongoing detainee hunger strike necessitated these medical assessments," and actions were taken by the command "in response to efforts by detainees to limit the guard force's ability to observe the detainees by covering surveillance cameras, windows, and glass partitions."

And lawyers for Guantanamo detainees say someone has been accessing their email: the Pentagon.

(Illustration: Matt Rota, for Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel's account in the New York Times)