Camp X-ray inmate begs journalists to publicize situation

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Two detainees pressed ahead with a two-week hunger strike Tuesday after one of the men begged journalists to publicize their plight, saying "nobody cares."

"We are on a hunger strike. We've been on a hunger strike for 14 days and nobody cares," a male detainee shouted Monday night as a van carrying journalists circled the perimeter of Camp X-ray, the temporary detention camp on this remote outpost where 300 men are being held.

"We need the world to know about us," the man shouted. "We are innocent here in this cage. We have no legal rights, nothing. So can somebody know about us? Can you tell the world about us?"

The statement came from a man speaking clear English with a foreign accent.

The man had been in an isolation cell since he began a hunger strike nearly two weeks earlier, said Marine Maj. Stephen Cox, a spokesman.

"Two inmates have refused meals since March 1," Cox said. A third recently resumed eating, he said.

The protest began after guards stripped an inmate of his turban, but military officials say participants have since told their captors their primary concern is uncertainty about what will happen to them.

The number of detainees refusing food has dropped to two from a high of 194 shortly after the protest began.

The military says the 300 captives now held at the base in southeastern Cuba include fighters of the al-Qaida terrorist network and the fallen Afghan Taliban regime.

U.S. officials are determining whether and how to prosecute the men, and say those not tried by a military tribunal empowered to order the death penalty could be prosecuted in U.S. courts, returned to their home countries for prosecution, held indefinitely or released outright.

Cox said it was not the first time detainees have shouted complaints at journalists who are given regular tours around Camp X-ray's fence. Detainees are not allowed to shout, but the man who yelled to journalists on Monday was not punished, Cox said.

"Some of the detainees certainly know the media is covering the story and it appears that they're attempting to use the media to get out their own messages or draw attention to their causes," Cox said.