Mr Zuhair, Guantanamo Detainee on Hunger Strike

AMR 51/156/2008

This regards Mr Ahmed Zuhair. He has been on a hunger strike since mid-2005, and has been force fed since August that year. There is a significant concern for his health, according to his lawyer he has lost 1/4 of his body weight, and does now appear skeletal. He vomits often.

Despite not resisting treatment, he is being force fed in a restraint chair, a process which causes him very great pain. Mr Zuhair alleges that this process is being used as collective punishment.

Read the brief from AI for further details.

Please send appeals to the President of the USA, Mr Bush, on president at whitehouse.gov, and to the secretary of defence, Mr Gates, via fax +1 703 571 8951 or regular mail: US Secretary of Defence, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301, USA. My letter to the president is below.

As always, send copies to your local embassy.

Dear Mr President,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, and a PhD student at the Australian National University. I am writing to express my grave concern about the health of Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Zuhair.

It has come to my attention that Mr Zuhair is being force fed in a restraint chair, a process which is causing him very significant pain. There are indications that this practice is used as a form of collective punishment, and it is clear that the practice is unnecessary in the case of Mr Zuhair, who is not resisting the treatment. I therefore call for the immediate cessation of this method of feeding Mr Zuhair.

I welcome Judge Emmett Sullivan's order for an independent medical examination of Ahmed Zuhair, and I call on you to ensure that this examination is carried immediately, and that Mr Zuhair receives all necessary medical treatment. The treatment must always be carried out by medical personnel and in a gentle and humane fashion. It must never be carried out by guards, and never in a manner that produces suffering.

I also call for the immediate release of Mr Zuhair, unless he is immediately charged with recognizably criminal offences for trial in ordinary US federal court.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and for considering my concerns.

Sincerely,


Ole Koksvik