Many
of you have read about the abuses at the military commissions which has
included listening in on lawyer/client communications, confiscating and reading
legal mail, searching the men’s private papers and searching their Quran’s
(ostensibly for notes). What has not
made the news is that the other men being held at Guantanamo have been
subjected to similar conduct. Muslim interpreters are searching the men's Quran’s along with their personal papers and the military has confiscated their letters and pictures from their
families as well as their legal mail. The military claims it is searching
for notes that it believes are being passed in the Quran. According to reports
from some of the men this caused a large riot in the "Gulf" block in
February and now all of the men except a few with medical problems are on a
hunger strike that is now in its 4th week. Keeping with its policy of secrecy the military has denied there was a riot and refuses to acknowledge that the
hunger strike involves nearly all of the men at the base- while at the same time the men are getting weaker and being moved to the hospital....
The
men at Guantanamo have provided two demands to the military before they will
end their hunger strike:
1.
The right to voluntarily surrender the Quran under these conditions- the men
would rather surrender their Quran’s than to be a party to the desecration by
keeping it. (That will end the strike immediately);
2. Provide
the Quran on an Ereader (this would ensure there are no notes being passed in
the Quran and will allow the men to have the Quran without fear of it being
desecrated).
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