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Wednesday, Apr 24, 2013 6:40 PM UTC

Gitmo hunger strike growing by the day

Even conservative official figures now put the number of striking inmates over 90

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Topics: gitmo, guantanamo hunger strike, Guantanamo Bay, Hunger Strike, Human Rights, center for constitutional rights,

Gitmo hunger strike growing by the day (Credit: AP)

As noted here, on Monday military officials put the official number of hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay detention camp at 77 — an increase of 25 inmates since last week. As of Wednesday, the number of strikers officially stands at 92 (over half of Gitmo’s detainees) — and these numbers are considered very conservative by lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights representing a number of starving inmates.

HuffPo’s Ryan J Reilly, who toured the prison camp last week, reported Wednesday:

Seventeen of the detainees are being force-fed and two of them are in the hospital with non-life threatening conditions, Lt. Col. Sam House said in an email from the remote naval base. Just 43 hunger strikers were recognized before officials raided Camp Six earlier this month and forced detainees into single cells.

The military’s Muslim advisor at Guantanamo told reporters during a visit last week that he believes more than one of the detainees will die before the hunger strike is over. The military has sent additional medical personnel down to Guantanamo to deal with the hunger strike.

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.

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