A Guantanamo detainee launched a landmark legal challenge to force-feeding at the US prison camp .

Seriously ill Yemeni Emad Hassan, who has been held without charge since 2002 and was cleared for release in 2009, will argue that the brutal force-feeding of detainees amounts to torture.

Mr Hassan says he's been force-fed more than 5,000 times since 2007 as the military seeks to smash a hunger-strike by inmates over conditions at the base, causing serious internal injuries.

Human rights group Reprieve US said the case presents "the first, historic opportunity" to assess the legality of the methods used to feed detainees.

Ms Hassan's legal team argue that the speed at which liquid is forced into some prisoners is a form of water torture that is similar to water-boarding.

It cites clear evidence that the military practices and protocols have been deliberately altered to cause gratuitous pain and suffering in an effort to coerce the prisoners to end their peaceful protest against conditions at the camp.

Mr Hassan said: "All I want is what President Obama promised - my liberty, and fair treatment for others.

"I have been cleared for five years, and I have been force-fed for seven years.

"This is not a life worth living, it is a life of constant pain and suffering. While I do not want to die, it is surely my right to protest peacefully without being degraded and abused every day."

The 34-year-old was seized while studying poetry in Pakistan in 2002 and sold to US forces for $5,000 (£3,000) under a bounty scheme widely derided by human rights groups.

One flyer advertising the bounties promised "wealth and power beyond your dreams."

During his interrogation he was asked if he knew al-Qaida, replying: "Yes, I know al-Qa'idah well," referring to a village near his home in Yemen rather than the terror group.

Reprieve US chairman Eric Lewis said the case marked a "historic step" in bringing "basic rights to the legal black hole at Guantanamo Bay.

"This case calls upon US judges to restore the most basic rights, medical standards and human dignity to these men at Guantanamo Bay," he added.