saying there is only a handful of prisoners refusing food here's how the camp spokesperson captain robert durandescribed the situation in good mo in response to our eighty eight reads their mission is their mission providing safe legal humane and transparent care and custody of detainees adding that the joint task force guantanamo takes its

and then the lawyers for these prisoners and you can't really believe anything robert duran says because he's been covering up all the tortures and murders from quinton mcveigh the entire time infamous case in two thousand and six and there were three so-called suicides but there was army staff whistleblower his name was joseph hickman and four other witnesses who said you know that these men were murdered but again the army spokesman for the navy robert duran covered that up so when it comes to this dispute between the word of the spokesman to get moe and the lawyers are going to have to believe the lawyers believe that this is a massive hunger strike. one time i was no stranger is it so you a human rights violations them how much of a concern this this latest incident i mean are we looking at a new. i think we're looking at the same low it's hard to get lower than guantanamo bay a lot of these men are detained without trial some without even charges and it doesn't mean they're innocent but it doesn't mean they're guilty either and the problem is secrecy and you have this level

to the issues in the concerns relieving to the hunger strike now in the meantime navy captain robert duran to spokesman for the detention operation who we've been communicating with more than two weeks now confirms that thirty one of the one hundred sixty six give no prisoners are on hunger strike eleven of the men are being force fed three of those men were hospitalized for rehydration an observation now two weeks ago when r.t. reached out to captain duran and he dismissed any reports or allegations of a mass hunger strike taking place at the detention facility then the numbers started escalating went from five to fourteen to twenty one twenty four twenty six now he confirms that it is. thirty one inmates but according to the center for constitutional rights and other attorneys they say that the pentagon is playing down these numbers they believe the attorneys for the prisoners say that more than one hundred of the detainees at gitmo are participating in this fifty day hunger strike now within the past day we spoke with attorney carlos warner he recently went to go visit his clients for a

handful of prisoners were on hunger strike then by friday we received a statement from navy captain robert duran who is the spokesman for the detention center and he said at that point fourteen prisoners were on hunger strike as of today the u.s. military is now saying twenty one detainees at guantanamo bay are on hunger strike but durandal maintains that claims of a mouse hunger strike have been blown out of proportion that it's not an estimated one thirty as the attorneys for the detainees say it is but we do know that medical experts have told us and so have attorneys that once this hunger strike enters its forty fifty day hunger strike participants risk losing their eyesight and losing their hearing there's been reports according to attorneys of hunger strike participants losing up to thirty pounds if not more coughing up blood losing consciousness being hospitalized according to the u.s. military the spokesperson for guantanamo bay as of last week there were five inmates that were being force fed force fed but the problem is we as journalists do not have direct access to more autonomy obey

at that prison unquote the director of public affairs for joint task force kuantan m o captain robert duran did release a statement on friday to r.t. denying claims of a mass hunger strike or the mishandling of the koran shortly after mr durant released his statement navy commander announced that flights to the island prison from south florida will be terminated on april fifth now those flights have served as a vital air bridge for attorneys who are seeking to meet with their imprisoned clients critics believe that this is an attempt by the defense department to limit the access that attorneys with their clients reporting from new york. r.t. . to an attorney you has represented several guantanamo bay prisoners and he describes detaining people for years without charge is grossly inhumane. there are a hundred sixty six people at guantanamo of those there are probably at most twenty guys who are bad guys who were taken in later guys like khalid shaikh muhammad the other people are and most nothing more than half of them eighty six of them may have been cleared at least for three years and som

mass strike is a gross exaggeration on our requests for information in prison spokesman captain robert duranresponded the number of detainees refusing all food is fourteen today risen from six c. information we got it's the first time the tunnel officials have admitted the number of hunger strikers has more than doubled following weeks of denial one of the inmates attorneys part is cabaret says the authorities are using questionable definitions to play down the scale of the fast. how they are defining hunger strikers that is also one clear i think that went on a most is being very careful in the way that they're they're denying these claims they're saying the number of men who have refused all food the number of men who are being to. these kinds of things there is a question about exactly how the authorities are defining hunger strikers and determining when when they need to be to that our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger strike there is a discretionary determination that kuantan a moment makes if the definition of hunger striker is entir

says the situation is a rapidly deteriorating and reaching a potential critical level however robert duran the director of the public affairs for the joint task force and one kuantan m o denies claims of a mass hunger strike he says only nine detainees are engaged in hunger strikes five of whom are being fed through tubes inserted into their stomachs so clearly there's a discrepancy in the reports here but if we're going to listen to the civil rights attorneys and the all the attorneys representing these men it's more than a hundred of these prisoners that are now refusing food for more than three weeks this is deja vu. in many respects back in two thousand and eleven more than fifteen prisoners at guantanamo protested and went on hunger strike to protest the indefinite detention order signed by u.s. president barack obama in two thousand and seven more than a dozen prisoners subjected. to hunger strike and had to be force fed subsequently had to be force fed two thousand five hundred twenty eight detainees went on hunger strike for more than a month and in two thousand and two nearly two

from the authorities more meaningful than the few remarks by the prison spokesperson in the media robert duran i mentioned him earlier responded to the allegations that the prisoners copies of the koran had been mistreated and that's what presumably triggered the strike he said it was a routine search for contraband and quote the koran is treated with the outmost respect end of quote it may very well be so from the conversations that we had with the lawyers i got a sense that this act of desperation is not just about the koran the lawyers are saying that these detainees desperately want to get the word out about the situation that they're in not formally accused of anything not knowing whether they're ever going to see their day in court detained indefinitely the u.n. says holding detainees indefinitely at guantanamo bay amounts to torture four years ago president obama signed an executive order to stop torture there but according to the un indefinite detention itself is also a form of torture it's hard to measure the degree of desperation among the inmates there half of them eighty six to be

early due to issues in the concerns relating to the hunger strike now in the meantime navy captain robert duran to spokesman for the detention operation who we've been communicating with more than two weeks now confirms that thirty one of the one hundred sixty six give no prisoners are on hunger strike eleven of the men are being force fed three of those men were hospitalized for rehydration an observation now two weeks ago when r.t. reached out to captain and he dismissed any reports or allegations of a mass hunger strike taking place at the detention facility then the numbers started escalating and now this hunger strike began according to attorneys on or around february sixth attorneys say that the prisoners went on the strike to protest the allegedly confiscation of their personal items and they allege it sacrilege is handling of their korans this is not just about treatment this is about the fact that these inmates of these detainee detainees have lost hope. that closing guantanamo bay is still a realistic priority for us president barack obama he promised to close down this prison by the

no really valid basis the director of public affairs for joint task force kuantan m o captain robert duran released a statement to our teeth in it he denies all claims of a mass hunger strike or any mishandling of the koran duran says only fourteen detainees at the detention center are refusing all food. our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that one chinaman makes at what those standards are what the criteria are are questions that they need to be at you know how are they defining hunger striker and when are they just terminating that someone needs to be to that and if it is if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion then i that explains how they are able to say that there are no more than a handful of men on hunger strike lawyers representing get more prisoners have sent a letter to us defense secretary chuck hagel urging him to help and the protest in the meantime organizations like the red cross have made attempts to check on the inm

saying there's only a handful of prisoners refusing food here's how the camp spokesman captain robert durandescribed the situation in guantanamo and in response to our request for information he said the mission provide safe legal humane and transparent care and custody of detainees adding that the joint task force kuantan m o six to ensure it stays true to the highest standards my colleague bill died spoke earlier to a former get mogahed brandon neely and i asked him how the detainees were treated during his watch at the facility. you know we were told before we actually got to want to animal that the geneva convention would not be held. on these days when they first arrived they were you allowed to walk around in their cells or cages i call among the dead they were allowed to pray they were allowed to do nothing when the international red cross came also some constraints you know loosened up and they were able to talk and stuff but you know it but they were treated horrible you know they were they were abused by you know by us guards when it came to the inter reaction force team into it w

began the protest off to prison guards desecrated the qur'an and sunnah most spokesman captain robert duran denied the claims admitting only that the number of detainees refusing all food has risen to fourteen he added that some of being force fed and one is in hospital a lawyer for the inmates told r.t. that reality is being twisted by authorities to downplay the crisis how they are defining hunger strikers that it is also one clear i think that want to know is being very careful in the way that they're they're denying these claims they're saying the number of men who have refused all food the number of men who are being to. these kinds of things there is a question about exactly how the. forty s are defining hunger strikers and determining when when they need to be that our understanding is that based on previous standards the determination of who is a hunger striker is a discretionary determination that one tunnel makes if the definition of hunger striker is entirely in their control and it is a matter of their discretion that that explains how they are able to say that there are no more

at that prison unquote the director of public affairs for joint task force kuantan a mo captain robert duran did release a statement on friday to r.t. denying claims of a mass hunger strike or the mishandling of the koran shortly after mr durant released his statement navy commander announced that flights to to the island prison from south florida will be terminated on april fifth now those flights have served as a vital air bridge for attorneys who are seeking to meet with their imprisoned clients critics believe that this is an attempt by the defense department to limit the access that attorneys with their clients reporting from new york. r.t. . turn to some other international news in greece now the syrian government is accusing rebel fighters of using chemical weapons in an attack in the country's laws which reportedly killed fifteen people meanwhile syria's main exiled opposition blog has elected its own prime minister to administer areas seized by the rebels the new leader is a syria born american citizen a desperate rebel groups fighting in syria have already criticize the election. h

at that prison unquote the director of public affairs for joint task force kuantan m o captain robert duran did release a statement on friday to r.t. denying claims of a mass hunger. strike or the mis handling of the koran shortly after mr brandon released his statement kuantan of the navy commander announced that flights to the island prison from south florida will be terminated on april fifth now those flights have served as a vital air bridge for attorneys who are seeking to meet with their imprisoned clients critics believe that this is an attempt by the defense department to limit the access that attorneys with their clients reporting from new york. r.t. . and we have got much more on the ongoing guantanamo hunger strike at our website you can head to watch an interview with a former guard of the notorious company gives a first hand account of the violence shown towards detainees and we've also analysis of other possible reasons behind the mass protests that is that dot com. hundreds of thousands of people have crammed into some pages square for the inauguration of pope francis here li

early do issues in the concerns relating to the hunger strike now in the meantime navy captain robert duran to spokesman for the detention operation who we've been communicating with more than two weeks now confirms that thirty one of the one hundred sixty six give no prisoners are on hunger strike eleven of the men are being force fed three of those men were hospitalized for rehydration an observation now two weeks ago when r.t. reached out to captain and he dismissed any report. the mass hunger strike taking place at the detention facility within the past day we spoke with attorney carlos warner he recently went to go visit his clients for a phrase. he's been charged with war crimes but his attorney when speaking to our she read a statement from his client let's take a listen to that quote i scare myself when i look in the mirror let them kill us as we have nothing to lose we died when obama indefinitely detained us respect us or kill us it's your choice the u.s. must take off its mask and kill us mr warner said that his client has lost more than thirty pounds in a month that his client l