Sunday, April 14, 2013

Red Cross chief blasts US for force-feeding Gitmo inmates...

The head of the Red Cross has urged the Obama administration to mend the situation in Guantanamo that has compelled prisoners to starve themselves, and criticized force-feeding as a solution to the hunger strike.

"The issue of Guantanamo is politically blocked in this country," International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer said at a news conference this week. "One important message I brought to all my US interlocutors over the past few days was also that this is an untenable blockage, that they should put their energy and political energy into finding a new compromise that will move the delicate issues forward."

Maurer on Wednesday sat down with President Obama to talk about the situation, but refused to discuss details about the meeting with the public. He told reporters at the National Press Club that he truly believed the president remained committed to shutting down Guantanamo, but also addressed a disagreement between the US and the Red Cross regarding the response to the hunger strike.

"There's a discrepancy between the position of the United States and the ICRC. That's very much part of, a point on the agenda," he added, explaining that the Red Cross, like other international medical groups, denounces the practice of force-feeding. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Clash over hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay...
  2. Guantánamo prisoners exert their final leverage...
  3. Deprived of justice, the Guantánamo detainees' last resort is to hunger strike...
  4. Blackout TV: US media turn blind eye to Gitmo hunger strike...
  5. US military admits three Gitmo hunger-strikers hospitalized, at least 10...
  6. Lawyers alarmed as Guantanamo hunger strike grows...
  7. Kucinich: Guantanamo black mark on US, absurd & lawless...

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