18 Detainees Force-Fed at Guantanamo

The strike, begun more than five weeks ago, has forced military authorities to hospitalize 18 of the prisoners and to take extraordinary measures to force-feed them.

Some detainees have vowed to die if necessary, but the Pentagon insists that it will not let anyone starve to death.

"Everyone is stable," Sgt. Justin Behrens, a prison spokesman, said of those hospitalized. "We're going to take care of everyone."

More than a quarter of the 502 detainees have refused food and liquids at various times as the protest has gained momentum since it began Aug. 8.

Along with demanding that they be freed or put on trial, some detainees also are complaining of assaults by guards and continuing to allege that there has been desecration of Muslim religious items. Behrens denied that detainees were being abused.

"The guards here are professional and are using standard operating procedures," he said. "Officers are on the cellblocks all the time to make sure this never happens."

Nevertheless, some of the complaints from prisoners, natives of 40 different countries sent to the prison after it opened in 2002, are being disclosed by attorneys.

All 502 have been designated "enemy combatants." Four have been charged with specific crimes and are awaiting trial before military commissions.

Maj. Jane Boomer, a Pentagon spokeswoman assigned to the Office of Military Commissions, said that the military commissions were on hold, awaiting a decision on whether the Supreme Court would grant a challenge to the legality of the process.

"We are very, very patient here in Guantanamo," prisoner Binyam Mohammed wrote in an Aug. 11 letter to his lawyer, explaining why the hunger strike was begun. "But finally enough was enough."

He joined the hunger strike, vowing that "I do not plan to stop until I either die or we are respected."

Mohammed, a 27-year-old native of Ethiopia who was raised in England, is suspected of training in an Afghan paramilitary camp and of engaging in terrorist plots. After Sept. 11, he fled to Pakistan, where he was captured.