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CNN Live At Daybreak

Tensions Escalating at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Aired March 01, 2002 - 06:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Tensions are escalating at Camp X- Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Many of the Afghan war detainees began a hunger strike this week after one of the inmates was stripped of his turban during prayers. CNN's Bob Franken has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Camp X-Ray security officials are hoping that the dwindling number of detainees who are refusing food means that a hunger strike will soon be over. At dinner only 88 rejected their meals, down markedly from the 194 who had turned away lunch. Earlier in the day the prisoners pushed bedding out of their cells and chanted raising such a clamor that heavily armed forces surrounded the camp until things quieted down.

Reporters did not see the loud protest because they were only informed hours after it concluded. The hunger strike began on Wednesday, a full day after guards had forced their way into a cell and shackled an inmate who seemed to be ignoring orders to remove a turban fashioned from a bed sheet. Turbans were forbidden for fear they'd be used as hiding places.

It turned out the detainee was not ignoring the guards. He was praying. To quell the protest, the security commander Gen. Michael Leonard (ph), spoke to the inmates over loud speakers. News media were excluded from that too, but a general spokesman announced he made a concession.

MAJ. STEVE COX: He passed on to the detainees that they will be allowed to fashion the headdress, the turban style headdress, if they so desired. In fact, you can see that several of them have already done that at this point, although he did let them know that while he was allowing them to fashion the headdress, that we certainly will inspect that from time to time.

FRANKEN: Several of the detainees were seen wearing turbans, fashioned with varying degrees of expertise. The general also told the guards they would get more training in the religious customs of their prisoners. Officials say Gen. Leonard also talked to the inmates about their growing tension over the uncertain future.

COX: He also told the detainees that they would be judged fairly at a time in the future. He told them that he could honestly at this point not tell them how long they will be here or what will happen to them in the future. But let them know that they will be judged fairly throughout the process.

FRANKEN: Officials are quick to say that tensions are increasing here, and it's clear it's not just for the detainees, but for their guards.

Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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