Activists step up fight to get prisoners released
Sunday 17 March 2013
Printable
EmailCampaigners descended on the US embassy in London today for an emergency protest in support of Guantanamo Bay prisoners on hunger strike.
British resident Shaker Aamer, who has allegedly been tortured repeatedly despite being cleared for release in 2007, is among the prisoners embarking on the second month of a hunger strike over the prison's harsh conditions.
Protest organisers London Guantanamo Campaign (LGC) claims that guards have been arbitrarily confiscating personal items from the men's cells and prison interpreters have desecrated copies of the Koran.
Reports from the prisoners' lawyers revealed the men were "coughing up blood, being hospitalised, losing consciousness, becoming weak and fatigued and being moved to camp V for observation."
LGC organiser Aisha Maniar called on US President Barack Obama to "respect the prisoners' lawful demands to have their human rights recognised" and "take positive steps to prevent any such further escalations by releasing the prisoners and closing the prison."
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