Nearly a fifth of the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay have gone on hunger strike with the aim of attracting the attention of Barack Obama, military officials have told The Times. Most of them are being force-fed.

Of the 248 inmates inside the detention facility, 44 are refusing food — but 33 of those are receiving nutrition with tubes that are forced up their noses and into their stomachs.

On election night, according to one official, news of Mr Obama’s win spread across the prison facility even though no inmates had access to television that evening, and chants of “Obama! Obama! Obama!” erupted throughout the complex.

Human rights groups claim the total number of hunger strikers is higher than officials say. Gitanjali Gutierrez, a lawyer for the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, says that more than 70 men held at the US base in Cuba are refusing to eat. She cited reports from visiting lawyers.

According to one official, most inmates are now well informed about what is happening in the outside world through a combination of watching Arabic news programmes and meetings with civilian lawyers and the International Red Cross, who are allowed to visit the facility. Most are aware of Mr Obama’s pledge to close the prison, which received its first inmates seven years ago this week.

Asked why so many were on hunger strike and why the number was increasing, an official said: “This is the seventh anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees, and a week today is the inauguration of a new president. Hunger striking is an acknowledged form of protest.”

Under military rules at Guantánamo, detainees are deemed to be on hunger strike if they refuse nine consecutive meals. Those who do eat receive between 4,500 and 5,000 calories a day. Once a detainee has not eaten for 21 days or missed 63 consecutive meals — or if he drops below 85 per cent of his healthy weight — force-feeding is imposed but only after a doctor gives approval.

Officials at Guantánamo say the procedure follows standard civilian techniques. The tip of a flexible tube about the width of spaghetti is dabbed with a lubricant, inserted into a nostril and pushed down into the stomach. A nutritional supplement is then administered. The inmates have no choice in the matter. “It is our responsibility to make sure that the detainees are kept in good health,” the official said.

Amid the controversy over the treatment of inmates the top Bush official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantánamo detainees to trial admitted that the alleged “20th hijacker” involved in the 9/11 attacks was tortured at Guantánamo Bay. “We tortured [Mohammed al-] Qahtani,” said Susan J. Crawford, in an interview with The Washington Post — the first time a senior Administration official has admitted that an inmate was tortured.

She said Mr al-Qahtani was subjected to sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, leaving him in a “lifethreatening condition”. Without providing details the Pentagon said on Tuesday that 61 former detainees released from Guantánamo had returned to terrorism.

Aides to Mr Obama say that, on his first day in office on Wednesday he will issue an executive order to close Guantánamo, although he conceded on Sunday that it would take time and is almost certain not to occur within the first 100 days of his administration. Aides have also indicated that he is likely to suspend the military commission system until the jail is closed.

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