SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.S. Navy nurse has refused to force-feed prisoners who are on an extended hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, the first protest of its kind at the detention center, a rights lawyer and U.S. official said Tuesday.

The unidentified nurse declined to participate after deciding the practice is a criminal act, said Cori Crider, an attorney for the British legal rights group Reprieve who spoke in a phone interview from London.