Thirteen Guantánamo Bay detainees on hunger strike have written an open letter to their military doctors insisting they receive independent, non-military medical treatment – and appealing to the conscience of their physicians.
“I cannot trust your advice, because you are responsible to your superior military officers who require you to treat me by means unacceptable to me, and you put your duty to them above your duty to me as a doctor,” the detainees write in an open letter from the detention centre obtained by the Guardian. “Your dual loyalties make trusting you impossible.”
The signatories, who include former UK resident Shaker Aamer, protest that the force-feedings administered by military physicians at Guantánamo are “extremely painful” and “in violation of the ethics of your profession.” The May 30 letter was co-ordinated by attorneys for the 13 detainees, nine of whom signed the statement directly. Four signed through their lawyers.
Another nine lawyers, some of whom represent Guantánamo detainees, added their names to the letter.
The detainees express an “urgent request” that the Joint Task Force Guantánamo, the military command running the detention facility, allow “independent” doctors selected by their attorneys to treat them. Army Lt Col Todd Breasseale, a Pentagon spokesman, said there is “no precedent” for allowing civilian doctors to treat Guantánamo detainees.
Despite the impassioned tone of the letter, the detainees express “some sympathy” for their military doctors.
“Whether you continue in the military or return to civilian practice, you will have to live with what you have done and not done here at Guantánamo for the rest of your life,” they write. “You can make a difference. You can choose to stop actively contributing to the abusive conditions I am currently enduring”.
The hunger strike, a high-profile problem for the Obama administration, is approaching its fifth month. Of the 166 detainees at Guantánamo, 103 are refusing food. Thirty-six of them are being forcibly fed through enteral feeds, five of whom are currently being observed in detention camp’s hospital. Breasseale said none “currently have any life-threatening conditions”.
