A Battersea man held by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay will today enter his 35th day of a hunger strike.

British resident Jamal Kiyemba is one of more than 200 detainees being held at the facility in Cuba who are starving themselves in protest of camp conditions.

Mr Kiyemba, 26, who is originally from Uganda, has been held as an "enemy combatant" at the camp for over three years without charge after being picked up in Pakistan in February 2002.

The former pharmacy student was taken to the notorious Bagram airbase in Afghanistan before being transferred to Cuba that summer. He began his hunger strike on August 11.

In a statement which was declassified by the US government, Mr Kiyemba said conditions at the camp had deteriorated.

The hunger strike is the second to occur at Guantanamo Bay since late June. The first prompted Mr Kiyemba and others to take part in a second starvation protest against conditions.

Describing the first wave of starvation in July, he said: "Many of the prisoners collapsed, as they would not drink water. More than 30 were hospitalized. I am in Camp IV, and we joined in."

He explained how those held in Whisky Block had shouted at a group of VIP visitors when they came to see the camp in July, saying they were "not terrorists" and the visitors were "being shown a lie".

Following this incident, Mr Kiyemba alleged the administration tried to punish detainees by moving 20 prisoners to other camps where treatment was worse.

He said because some people "were near death, the military caved" and detainees were allowed to set up a prisoner welfare council with six prisoner representatives.

He added the authorities also agreed they would no longer punish people by denying them clothes and would give them items such as pens and paper.

The statement was passed on by Mr Kiyemba's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, who said the situation was "desperate".

Mr Stafford Smith said: "I respect the fact Jamal is on a hunger strike, but I don't want him dying from starvation because the Americans are too pig-headed to respect the law."

He said he is now writing to the UK Government about camp conditions.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it had no comment to make on the hunger strike, as it was "something which is happening outside of Britain and by people who are not British".

Mr Stafford Smith added: "Britain needs to behave the way it used to behave when it stood up for decency and human rights, which are the best counter-terrorism measures we have."

ctaylor@london.newsquest.co.uk