Guantanamo hunger strikers face off with US military

For more than three months, the US military has faced off with defiant prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, strapping down as many as 44 each day to feed them a liquid nutrient mix through a nasal tube.

The standoff, which prompted President Barack Obama to renew his call to close the detention centre, has grown to involve 104 of the 166 prisoners as of Saturday.

Yet the experience of a former detainee shows a hunger strike at the centre can be as indefinite as the open-ended detention that is at the heart of nearly every conflict at Guantanamo.