Gitmo Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike

Thirteen detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center are on hunger strike, protesting conditions at a maximum-security block known as Camp Six, where 160 inmates are locked in their 8-by-10-foot cells for at least 22 hours a day. It's the first major strike since early 2006, when Gitmo commanders started placing protesting detainees in restraint chairs to force feed them.

This latest strike is viewed as a sign of growing desperation among the 385 prisoners, only ten of whom have been charged with crimes. Sabin Willett, a lawyer representing detainees, tells the Times: “They’re just sitting on a powder keg down there. You’re going to have an insane asylum.” (More human rights stories.)