The end of Ramadan has left authorities at the Guantanamo Bay military jail preparing for an uptick in unrest at the controversial prison, US officials say.
The annual Muslim fast is traditionally regarded as an unofficial truce at Guantanamo, where some inmates have been held for around a decade without trial.
However officials expect the end of Ramadan and the festival of Eid al-Fitr will be the cue for trouble at Guantanamo, which has witnessed an unprecedented six-month hunger strike this year.
Some inmates at Guantanamo have taken advantage of a tailored menu to observe the Eid holiday.
This weekend inmates were offered halal chicken, halal beef, lamb, dates, honey, says kitchen manager Sam Scott.
Some 38 other hunger-striking inmates, however, will continue to be force-fed by tubes, a practice which has been widely condemned by rights groups.
The number of prisoners on hunger-strike has fallen, possibly as a result of Ramadan, when authorities traditionally offer to wipe clean the slates of inmates facing disciplinary proceedings.
Guantanamo public affairs chief Captain Robert Durand said it “remained to be seen” whether inmates would resume their hunger-strike now that Ramadan was over.
Guantanamo commander John Bogdan said detainees were generally more compliant during Ramadan.
The vast majority of Guantanamo prisoners have been detained in individual cells since a major protest on April 13 which led to rubber bullets being fire after several surveillance cameras were broken.
Zak, a cultural advisor employed by the Pentagon to serve as a link between the inmates and their jailers, said the spike in trouble earlier this year was normal given that camp authorities usually offered an amnesty for Ramadan.
Joshua Holmes, a guard at Guantanamo’s Camp 5, said he had been spat at.
At least one nurse had been punched while attempting to insert a feeding a tube into a hunger-striker.
Prison guard James Boudreau meanwhile said staff remained unfazed by abusive prisoners.
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