On May 15, military officials at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility escorted visiting media to maximum security Camp 5, where non compliant prisoners are held, for a rare opportunity to observe the prisoners' morning prayer.
May 27, 2013

At Freedom of the Press Foundation, Jason Leopold writes about this video he filmed at the section of Guantánamo where the hunger strikers are being held. What you hear around 3 minutes in is the Muslim call to prayer being led by the leader of the hunger striking detainees, from inside his cell.

On May 15, military officials at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility escorted visiting media to maximum security Camp 5, where non compliant prisoners are held, for a rare opportunity to observe the prisoners' morning prayer. Aliya Hussain, who works with the Center for Constitutional Rights' Global Justice Initiative, tweeted after she watched the video, "Despite all that's cruel and unjust at Guantanamo, humanity perseveres."

The visit to Camp 5 took place amid a mass hunger strike that is now entering its fourth month and counts 103 prisoners as taking part in the protest and 32 who are being force-fed. Media arrived at the camp at 4:30 am and were instructed to remain silent as the officer in charge of the camp did not want prisoners to know we were present. The prisoners did not leave their cells for prayer so we were unable to see them.

What you are hearing (at 3:00 into the video) is the leader's call to prayer being done from inside of his prison cell.

The closest we in the media came to a seeing a prisoner on the cell block is when one man stuck his arms through a bean hole to hand the guard an unknown object.

The guards walking the block are checking the prisoners cells every one to three minutes in accordance with their standard operating procedures. They are wearing "splash shields" over their faces to protect from being splashed with urine and feces, the military said.

As we exited the camp and waited outside for the gate to open, I looked up behind me and could see three very narrow prison cell windows. In one stood a prisoner dressed in white. He stared at me and gave me a "thumbs down" sign.

The hunger strike at Gitmo's Camp 5 is now in its 4th month, as Jason notes, with over 100 detainees participating. About one third of the detainees on hunger strike are now being forcibly fed.

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon