MIAMI: Meals served around the clock during Ramadan

With the vast majority of the prisoners at Guantanamo now marking their 10th Ramadan there, the military is providing food around the clock for both the faithful honoring the dawn-to-dusk fast and those who choose to ignore it.

But guards tracking the results discovered that more than half the camp ignored Islam’s obligation to fast.

“The average fasting percentage of the detainee population for Ramadan in 2010 was 55 percent,” said Navy Cmdr. Tamsen Reeses.

The result suggests that some of the 171 captives have lost faith after a decade in captivity — a surprising turnabout from earlier years.

Attorneys and other outsiders who are allowed to speak with the detainees doubt that that many Muslim prisoners are non-observant. Criminal defense attorney Ahmed Ghappour offers a different possible explanation.

Muslims who are traveling or sick have never been obliged to fast during Ramadan. And, though it’s 10 years later, some of the men may have adopted this interpretation.

McClatchy Newspapers

Source: www.thenewstribune.com