JURIST - Paper Chase: Guantanamo prisoner on hunger strike wants US court to let him starve to death

[JURIST] A Guantanamo detainee on hunger strike [JURIST report] has asked for a motion ordering his feeding tube to be removed so that he can starve to death, his lawyers said Tuesday. Kuwaiti Fawzi al-Odah [Project Kuwaiti Freedom profile], 28, has been imprisoned without charges at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] since his arrest in Pakistan in 2002. He has been force-fed through a tube since at least a month; attorneys said in late September that he was one of two hunger-striking Kuwaiti detainees who could then barely sit up or talk [JURIST report]. His lawyers will wait to file the motion until they receive the approval of al-Odah’s doctors and family [Amnesty International video interview with father], who oppose the request. Attorney Tom Wilner, who represents al-Odah, anticipates a legal and ethical dilemma, including the "conflict" between the wishes of al-Odah and his family. US military leaders at the camp treat hunger striking as a suicide attempt and seek ways to prevent it, such as force feeding through nasal tubes. Detainee lawyers recently made allegations of prisoner abuse [JURIST report] connected to the ongoing hunger strike, which began August 8 with 76 prisoners; the Pentagon lists the current number of strikers at 26. Al-Odah was previously at the center of the 2004 US Supreme Court ruling Al Odah v. US, joined with Rasul v. Bush [PDF], holding that Guantanamo detainees have recourse to the US federal courts. AP has more.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...