Support Guantánamo hunger strikers
in demands for humane treatment

Detainees at Guantánamo prison began a widespread and intensive hunger strike in August to protest abusive treatment at the camp and continued denial of fair hearings. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that they are entitled to counsel and hearings. The medical condition of many of these prisoners is steadily worsening, and many are in danger of dying. Sadly, the coverage of this crisis in the mainstream media has been inadequate, and there has been no serious response from our government leaders.

We cannot stand by while these prisoners begin to die for moral principles that we ourselves cherish. We must demand that our government officials take urgent action to halt all forms of abuse and torture, both mental and physical, in all of the different camps in Guantánamo and promptly comply with the requirements set forth by the Supreme Court.

Take action now!

Please contact your U.S. representatives and senators and ask them to send an urgent message to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld demanding proper humanitarian treatment of all prisoners and compliance with their basic rights to counsel and fair hearings.

-- Please call your Congress members’ offices in Washington, D.C., by dialing the switchboard at 202-224-3121. You also may use our online Legislative Action Center for links to your Congress members’ websites, where you will find direct telephone numbers to their Washington offices.

-- If you wish, you can also visit our Legislative Action Center to send an immediate message by e-mail.

Message

Tell your senators and representatives:

1. I am gravely concerned about the ongoing hunger strike by the Guantánamo detainees.
2. Time is of the essence here! Soon the detainees may die.
3. There is simply no doubt that most of the detainees in the various camps in Guantánamo continue to suffer mistreatment, torture and other abuses, both physical and psychological. (This includes areas not visited by our legislators.)
4. There has been no adequate compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the detainees' right to counsel and a hearing on their ongoing detention.
5. I respect the rights of the detainees to protest the grave violations of their fundamental human rights through the use of hunger strikes.
6. I insist that Congress take urgent action to halt these egregious violations by U.S. military and intelligence officers.
7. As a citizen of this country, I am appalled to think that some of the detainees might be left to die for basic moral principles that we ourselves have long cherished.

Background

Since September 11, 2001, the United States military and intelligence networks have been holding a number of detainees in the special facilities in Guantánamo. Conditions have been shocking from the outset. Although international outcry has led to some improvements, conditions generally remain inadequate and inhumane. Our legislators have recently viewed some of the Guantánamo camps, but these delegations have been very limited, and the worst areas remained off limits.

Worse yet, as the ongoing deluge of declassified government files, witness statements, and photographs have made clear, many of the detainees have been subjected to mental and physical torture as well as cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. Although the Supreme Court has ruled on the detainees’ rights to counsel and hearings, there has been very little compliance.

Given this situation, it is not surprising that hunger strikes and suicides have been rampant since the arrival of the first detainees. The hunger strikes that began last summer have become very widespread and intense, however. There are reportedly more than 200 strikers now. The detainees are simply insisting on an end to brutal beatings, inhumane conditions, and other abuses, as well as an end to their indefinite imprisonment. Surely such demands are valid under basic American laws and values.

Human rights principles recognize the rights of the prisoners to carry out these strikes and forbid forced feedings. The solution is not to silence the strikers by strapping them to a hospital bed, but rather to redress their valid grievances.

For more information and analysis, see a report by the Center for Constitutional Rights, “The Guantánamo Prisoner Hunger Strikes and Protests.”