SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A Guantanamo Bay prisoner from Syria cleared for release in 2009 has seen his health deteriorate amid a hunger strike and needs urgent, independent medical examination, his attorney said Tuesday.

Abu Wa’el Dhiab, 43, has been on a hunger strike since February 2013, with only a brief interruption earlier this year when he thought he was going home, said Cori Crider, a lawyer who is a director for the British legal rights group Reprieve.