MANAMA, 29 September 2005 — Bahraini officials said yesterday they will be inquiring about six Bahraini detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba after hunger strike reports.
Detainees’ lawyers had expressed concern that some of their clients were taking part in a hunger strike of extended duration.
The lawyers sent a letter to the Bahraini Foreign Ministry late Tuesday asking them to inquire about their clients’ health.
The move came after US authorities refused to answer requests for information concerning the six and barred communication until the lawyers’ fourth scheduled visit to the camp, set for Oct. 13.
Lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan said he was concerned about the physical condition of his clients after some participated in an earlier hunger strike that required hospitalization for at least one detainee.
“Our clients told us that if the promises made by the (US) government to stop the earlier hunger strike were not kept, a subsequent hunger strike would be undertaken that would not stop until detainees died,” Colangelo-Bryan said in a statement. “We believe that the detainees are now undertaking this hunger strike.”
Nabeel Rajab, the former vice president of the now dissolved Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said the detainees during their June-July hunger strike had put forward six demands to improve their conditions, expressing at the same time strong conviction that these are the same demands fueling the present hunger strike.
Bahraini Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdul Aziz ibn Mubarak Al-Khalifa said: “We intend to have the inquiries about the detainees’ health presented to the US authorities by Thursday.”
