Guantanamo hunger strike widens

THE number of Guantanamo Bay prisoners taking part in a hunger strike that began nearly five months ago has surged to 84 since Christmas Day.

Forty-six detainees in the prison for foreign terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, joined the protest on Christendom’s most widely observed holy day, December 25, according to military spokesman, Lt Col Jeremy Martin.

The prisoner population, which the Pentagon says numbers about 500, is believed to be uniformly Muslim. Only nine have been charged.