Judge denies emergency relief for Gitmo hunger striker

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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge denied a request for emergency relief from a hunger-striking inmate at Guantanamo Bay, saying he doesn't have jurisdiction over the facility.

Inmate Musa'ab Omar al-Madhwani, of Yemen, alleged he is on the verge of death and is being denied appropriate medical care while at the U.S. military prison in Cuba, The Washington Post reported.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said Monday he has no jurisdiction over the conditions at the prison.

Government lawyers denied not giving al-Madhwani medical care and said those on hunger strike are being force fed. They said no detainee has ever died at Guantanamo Bay during a hunger strike.

Hunger strikers at the prison used improvised weapons to clash with guards Saturday before being confined to single cells, CNN reported.

Guards were attempting to move the men from communal living space to individual cells because they had begun covering security cameras with cereal boxes and other items, prohibiting "round-the-clock monitoring" in the facility, Guantanamo spokesman Capt. Robert Durand said.

Attorneys for the detainees said the immediate cause for the protest, which started in February, was a decision to search detainees' Korans. Military officials said Korans were searched for contraband but were handled by interpreters, most of whom are Muslim, not guards.