Tom Watson announces one-day hunger strike in solidarity with Guantanamo Bay prisoners

Tom Watson is going on a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with two Guantanamo Bay inmates.

The deputy Labour Party leader announced this morning that he would not allow himself ‘anything but sips of water’ as a protest against the treatment of two prisoners currently on hunger strike in the notorious military prison.

Mr Watson wrote in The Guardian: ‘This is not some George Osborne-inspired weight-loss plan.

‘No. I’m following the Guantánamo diet in solidarity with two men who are being slowly starved to death by President Trump.

‘His administration has changed its practice towards detainees who choose to refuse food in protest at their incarceration.

‘Previously they were force-fed, a cruel and inhuman punishment in itself.

‘Now they are no longer fed at all. Make no mistake, these men will die at the hands of Donald Trump if nothing is done.’

Ahmed Rabbani and Khalid Qasim are on long-term hunger strike in protest at their indefinite incarceration in Guantanamo. Neither man has been fed since 20 September.

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‘Neither man wants to die, but after over a decade of torture, injustice and indifference, they are desperate.

‘The only thing they feel they can do, the only control they have, is to refuse food,’ writes Watson.

The protest is part of the #FastForJustice campaign organised by human rights charity Reprieve, who represent Ahmed Rabbani and Khalid Qasim.

The campaign asks participants to pledge a 24-hour fast.

‘If the world won’t pay attention to their hunger strike, maybe they’ll pay attention to ours,’ says Reprieve.

Under the Trump regime, hunger strikers are being denied access to basic medical care and left to starve, according to Reprieve.

Watson’s article states: ‘After 26 days of nothing at all, Khalid and Ahmed are almost certainly close to severe organ failure.

‘It is a matter of time until irreversible damage is done; we may have already passed the point of no return.

‘Make no mistake, force-feeding is cruel. But this dramatic change in practice is sadistic.’