[mad]
[/mad]
Guantanamo hunger strikers are being force-fed in a cruel manner, the UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak said.
Nowak told
BBC that he received credible reports that some hunger strikers had had thick pipes inserted through the nose and forced down into the stomach.
This was done in a cruel way, sometimes by prison guards rather than doctors, he said. As a result, some detainees had reported bleeding and vomiting.
"If these allegations are true then this definitely amounts to an additional cruel treatment," he said.
Nowak recently rejected an invitation to the detention centre because the United States refused to give him free access to the detainees there.
The accusations came after it emerged that the number of prisoners taking part in a hunger strike that started almost five months ago has more than doubled since December 25.
The U.S. army said on Thursday that about 84 detainees are now refusing food.
"There's been a significant increase in the number that have been added to the hunger strike," Army Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a military spokesman, told
Reuters.
Although Lt. Col. Martin admitted that medical personnel were force-feeding 32 of the hunger strikers, he denied that the detainees were treated in an inappropriate manner.
Also Army spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Maker told
BBC: "To suppose that these people are being left bleeding - I know of no instance of that, there's been no reports of that, there's been no credible evidence produced by any investigation of that fact,"
Amnesty International official Jumana Musa said this increase in the number of hunger strikers indicates the seriousness of the situation.
"You are talking about a prison population of hundreds who have decided that with no conceivable change in their future that they just don't care to live anymore, or they are going to make a statement in dying.” she said.
The U.S. army defined a hunger strike as refusing nine consecutive meals and often refer to the strike as a "voluntary fast" and force-feeding as "enteral feeding."
The detainees launched the hunger strike in early August to protest against their "indefinite" detention and "inhumane" treatment. Their lawyers say that they are willing to starve to death to demand a fair hearing on whether they must stay.
The United States is holding more than 500 foreign suspects at Guantanamo prison. Many have been held for almost three years without a charge.
Human rights activists have sharply criticized the U.S. for conditions at Guantanamo. They say that policy decisions made at top levels of the U.S. government have led to widespread prisoner abuse by American soldiers.
The U.S. has declared the detainees as illegal enemy combatants who are not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
Human rights groups and several EU states have said that "enemy combatants" is a term not recognized by international law, and that prisoners should be granted the rights of prisoners of wars.