The number of detainees taking part in a hunger strike at the US-run Guantanamo Bay military prison has grown to 77, an increase of 25 in just the past few days, according to a US military spokesman.

Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House said in a statement that of the detainees refusing food, 17 are receiving “enteral feedings,” a process involving being force-fed via tubes.

Five of the inmates have been admitted to hospital, although none faces “life-threatening conditions,” House said.

The facility, which houses 166 detainees, has been hit by hunger strikes since February 6, when inmates claimed prison officials searched their Qurans for contraband. Officials have denied any mishandling of Islam’s holy book.

The hunger strikers are protesting against their incarceration without charge or trial at Guantanamo over the past 11 years.

“They say they want their freedom,” Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, said. “Or they’ll die trying to get it.”

Lawyers representing inmates at the prison have said most of the estimated 130 detainees at Guantanamo’s Camp Six wing, which houses “low-value” prisoners, are on hunger strike.

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