Former Guantanamo inmates go on strike

Ex-detainees refuse to sign Uruguay government deal, say US must also help

Uruguay’s foreign minister has said that six former Guantanamo Bay detainees resettled here will be out of a house and off public assistance unless they agree to terms they have so far rejected, the latest in an increasingly public battle over who is financially responsible for the men and for how long.

Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa made the statements to reporters as four of the men kept up a protest in front of the US Embassy that they began on Friday, spending the nights with sleeping bags.

The agreement drawn up by a local agency that works with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees promises the men free private housing through February 2016 and a continuation of the monthly stipend of $600 (Dh2,203) that they have been receiving since arriving.

“If they don’t sign, they won’t receive any income,” Nin Novoa said.

Five of the six have refused to sign, saying the Uruguayan government promised more help with housing than stipulated in the agreement.

They also complain that the government wants them to pay taxes out of their stipend, which they say already isn’t enough to cover all their costs, and demand the US government help since they spent a dozen years in prison and were never convicted of any crime.

“We will stay [in front of the embassy] until we have solutions to our problems,” Ali Hussain Shaaban said. “We want our rights. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Shaaban, from Syria, says Nin Novoa told them in a recent private meeting that as political refugees they would be provided for as long as they were in Uruguay.

Nin Novoa said that was a misunderstanding, possibly because of a bad translation.