JURIST - Paper Chase: Judge orders more contact for lawyers of hunger-striking Gitmo detainees

[JURIST] Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees on a hunger strike [JURIST report] must be notified by the Defense Department before their clients may be force fed against their will, US District Judge Gladys Kessler [official profile] ruled Wednesday. Kessler also ruled that the government must provide detainee medical records from before the hunger strike to their attorneys, although she denied access to telephones for the detainees due to security concerns. About two dozen detainees continue with a hunger strike that began Aug. 8 to protest their continued detention without charge. The US has force fed some of the hunger strikers to prevent them from dying, but some detainees have alleged harsh treatment such as inserting feeding tubes without anesthesia and reusing feeding tubes without sanitization. Dr. John Edmondson, commander of the US Navy hospital at the prison, denied the charges in a filing with the court. AP has more.

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