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Three Guantanamo Detainees in Slovakia Continue Hunger-strike
Wednesday 30 June 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, June 30 (TASR) - Three former detainees from Guantanamo Bay who were transferred to Slovakia in January are prepared to continue their hunger-strike to protest against the allegedly bad conditions that they are enduring in Slovakia and the treatment they are receiving from Slovak authorities at a detention facility in Medvedov (Trnava region), one of the detainees Adel Fattouh Al-Gazzar told TASR on Wednesday.
Al-Gazzar said that the three men are prepared to continue the hunger-strike until their problems resolved. "Of course I'm weaker, but I can still walk. Yesterday and today a doctor came to see us to check our blood pressure, but we rejected this," said the Egyptian.
Al-Gazzar's lawyer refused to comment on the case. "The case is open and I think it would harm them more than it would help them [to comment on the case]," he said, adding that he thinks the case will be resolved soon.
The detainees' identities were kept a secret for five months until the men themselves revealed them when they began the hunger-strike, contacting Amnesty International Slovensko (AIS). According to AIS Director Branislav Tichy, the detainees aren't allowed to have any contact with anybody except for personnel at the facility and their lawyer. Tichy described their living conditions as poor. They only have beds and a sink at their disposal and are only allowed to leave the room in which they are kept for one hour per day.
The Slovak authorities are currently deciding on the detainees' legal status. They are described as 'foreigners located in Slovakia' at the moment.
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