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Prisoner Points To Quran Search For Gitmo Hunger Strike

By Eyder Peralta
Published May 6, 2013 at 9:52 AM MDT
This image reviewed by the U.S. military shows the front gate of "Camp Six" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Jim Watson
/
AFP/Getty Images
This image reviewed by the U.S. military shows the front gate of "Camp Six" detention facility of the Joint Detention Group at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg reports that for the first time, we have a sworn statement from a Guantanamo prisoner who talks about what sparked the massive hunger strike at the U.S. prison camp.

During a February shakedown at Camp 6, writes the Afghan captive Obaidullah, "I and other detainees saw U.S. soldiers rifling through the pages of many Qurans and handling them roughly. This constitutes desecration. It has not been searched in five years."

Rosenberg, who has been covering the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002, spoke to On Point today about the situation.

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NPR News GuantanamoCubaReligionMuslims
Eyder Peralta
Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
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