Associated Press
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Incensed that two guards stripped a detainee of his turban during prayer, nearly two-thirds of the prisoners captured in the Afghan war refused lunch Thursday and chanted "God is great" in Arabic in their first mass protest since arriving at the base.
In addition, some detainees pushed sheets, blankets, sleeping mats and other items through the small openings in the chain-link walls of their cells in protest, Marine Maj. Stephen Cox, the detention mission spokesman, told reporters.
Thursday night, Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert, the Marine general running the detention mission, used the camp loudspeaker to tell inmates they would be allowed to wear turbans. Cox said, "We will reserve the right to inspect (turbans) at any time."
Cox reported that Lehnert promised the military would respect detainees’ religion and the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
Afterward, reporters could see several detainees wearing turbans fashioned from white bed sheets. It was not immediately known whether they ate their evening meal.
Tension has been building among the 300 inmates who have been held at Camp X-ray, the remote U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba, since January.
In recent days, some have been ignoring a taped call to prayer and instead have picked individual detainees to announce and lead prayer, which Muslims do five times a day.
Cox said Lehnert spoke with the captives to address some of their concerns.
"He told them at this point he could not to tell them how long they will be here or what will happen to them in the future," Cox said. But "Gen. Lehnert also told the detainees that they will be judged fairly" when the time comes.
The detainees told a duty officer their protest was in response to an incident that took place Tuesday, Cox said. A detainee had fashioned a turban out of a sheet and was wearing it on his head during prayer. Two military guards ordered the inmate to remove the turban, but the inmate ignored the order, he said. Even after a translator repeated the same order, the inmate refused to acknowledge it.
Cox said 159 detainees skipped lunch and 109 skipped dinner on Wednesday. On Thursday, 107 skipped breakfast and 194 refused lunch.
Medical personnel have been monitoring the detainees and are prepared to feed them intravenously if needed, Cox said.
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