Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
MiamiHerald.com
November 28, 2008
By Ben Fox, Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The health of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner on hunger strike for more than three years has deteriorated sharply, his lawyer said in legal papers seeking an independent medical examination.
Ahmed Zuhair appears to weigh no more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms), more than 35 pounds (16 kilograms) less than the military says he weighed in August, attorney Ramzi Kassem said in a motion filed Thursday in federal court in Washington.
The military said in previous court documents that the 5-foot-5 Zuhair, an alleged Islamic militant, was about 137 pounds in August and in no immediate medical danger.
Kassem said in an affidavit that the prisoner also appeared to be ill, vomiting repeatedly during meetings Nov. 14-15 at the U.S. base in Cuba.
"Mr. Zuhair lifted his orange shirt and showed me his chest. It was skeletal," Kassem said. "Mr. Zuhair's legs looked like bones with skin wrapped tight around them."
Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum, a spokeswoman for the Guantanamo detention center, said she could not immediately comment on Kassem's allegations, but said the U.S. military is required to keep all detainees healthy and closely monitors those on hunger strike.
Zuhair has been on a hunger strike to protest his confinement since the summer of 2005. The military keeps him alive by force-feeding him liquid nutrients twice daily through a nasal tube.
There were 20 prisoners on hunger strike as of Friday at Guantanamo, where the U.S. now holds about 250 men on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Kassem, a Yale Law School lecturer, said his client is allergic to a corn-based liquid nutrient used to feed him, which causes him to vomit.
The attorney asked the court to order a halt to the use of the corn-based nutrient and to stop the use of a six-point restraint chair during force-feedings. Kassem says the restraints are painful and unnecessary.
The U.S. Department of Justice has not yet responded to the motion. The military has alleged that Zuhair was combative with guards at the detention center.
Zuhair was captured in Pakistan and held since June 2002 at Guantanamo. He has not been charged with a crime, although the U.S. says he trained with the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and was a member of an Islamic fighting group in Bosnia in the mid-1990s.
November 28, 2008
By Ben Fox, Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The health of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner on hunger strike for more than three years has deteriorated sharply, his lawyer said in legal papers seeking an independent medical examination.
Ahmed Zuhair appears to weigh no more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms), more than 35 pounds (16 kilograms) less than the military says he weighed in August, attorney Ramzi Kassem said in a motion filed Thursday in federal court in Washington.
The military said in previous court documents that the 5-foot-5 Zuhair, an alleged Islamic militant, was about 137 pounds in August and in no immediate medical danger.
Kassem said in an affidavit that the prisoner also appeared to be ill, vomiting repeatedly during meetings Nov. 14-15 at the U.S. base in Cuba.
"Mr. Zuhair lifted his orange shirt and showed me his chest. It was skeletal," Kassem said. "Mr. Zuhair's legs looked like bones with skin wrapped tight around them."
Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum, a spokeswoman for the Guantanamo detention center, said she could not immediately comment on Kassem's allegations, but said the U.S. military is required to keep all detainees healthy and closely monitors those on hunger strike.
Zuhair has been on a hunger strike to protest his confinement since the summer of 2005. The military keeps him alive by force-feeding him liquid nutrients twice daily through a nasal tube.
There were 20 prisoners on hunger strike as of Friday at Guantanamo, where the U.S. now holds about 250 men on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Kassem, a Yale Law School lecturer, said his client is allergic to a corn-based liquid nutrient used to feed him, which causes him to vomit.
The attorney asked the court to order a halt to the use of the corn-based nutrient and to stop the use of a six-point restraint chair during force-feedings. Kassem says the restraints are painful and unnecessary.
The U.S. Department of Justice has not yet responded to the motion. The military has alleged that Zuhair was combative with guards at the detention center.
Zuhair was captured in Pakistan and held since June 2002 at Guantanamo. He has not been charged with a crime, although the U.S. says he trained with the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and was a member of an Islamic fighting group in Bosnia in the mid-1990s.