SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
What the Obama Administration's Standard Operating Procedure for Force-Feeding Gitmo Prisoners Looks Like
New video exposes brutality of procedure forced upon over 40 prisoners in human rights wasteland
Jul 08, 2013
A new video further exposes the brutality of the force-feedings of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo.
Twice a day, every day at the prison, over 40 of the more than 100 hunger strikers who are protesting their indefinite detention are strapped down and force-fed in a procedure widely denounced as torture.
The video by human rights charity Reprieve and director Asif Kapadia captures the horrifying cruelty of the Standard Operating Procedure for the force-feeding.
Yasiin Bey--the actor and rapper formerly known as Mos Def--undergoes the procedure in the video. He is shackled, strapped into chair, his head and hands belted back in restraints. A plastic tube is forced down his nostril, visibly causing pain. He is held down.
Bey begs for the force-feeding to stop and weeps.
Over 40 Guantanamo prisoners are subjected to this twice a day, an experience Reprieve reports can last two hours.
Warning: Viewers may find the video very disturbing.
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) demonstrates Guantanamo force-feeding Standard Operating ProcedureYasiin Bey appears in a video launched today demonstrating the Standard Operating Procedure for force-feeding prisoners on ...
Guantanamo prisoner Tariq Ba Odah--who's been held at the prison for 11 years without trial--has been force-fed like this since 2007, says the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents him.
The video marks the launch of a campaign encouraging justice supporters to embark on a hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners.
"President Obama could take the steps needed to release cleared prisoners from Guantanamo any time he likes, but so far has lacked the political courage to do so," stated Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's Director and attorney for Guantanamo prisoners. "We hope that public solidarity with the hunger-strikers in Guantanamo will persuade him to change his mind."
Also, the Obama administration refused on Monday to give legally binding assurances that the Guantanamo prisoners would not be force-fed during daylight hours of the Muslim holiday of Ramandan, during which observers fast during the day. Reprieve reports that the U.S. Department of Justice said that the force-feeding at night is "an accommodation, not a right." They merely have "plans" to execute the torturous procedure "absent any...operational issues" after sunset and before sunrise.
And if the prison officials do carry out the force-feedings of the dozens of prisoners in the limited hours between sunset and sunrise, lawyers with Reprieve have explained it would necessitate a "force-feeding factory."
Scoffing at President Obama's lawyers' position that the detainees are "'non-resident aliens [and] are not protected 'persons' within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," lawyers for the prisoners noted that "it hardly advances international respect for American democracy when the Supreme Court treats corporations as 'persons' but the President insists that the Guantanamo Bay detainees are not."
"If the Obama Administration is so sure they can feed these prisoners overnight, why won't they agree to give it legal weight?" added Cori Crider, Guantanamo Counsel and Strategic Director at Reprieve. "The worrying conclusion is that prisoners' rights during Ramadan will depend on the government's largesse."
"There is an easier way: Obama could stop this strike if he started freeing those prisoners who have been cleared for release by his own government," said Crider.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A new video further exposes the brutality of the force-feedings of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo.
Twice a day, every day at the prison, over 40 of the more than 100 hunger strikers who are protesting their indefinite detention are strapped down and force-fed in a procedure widely denounced as torture.
The video by human rights charity Reprieve and director Asif Kapadia captures the horrifying cruelty of the Standard Operating Procedure for the force-feeding.
Yasiin Bey--the actor and rapper formerly known as Mos Def--undergoes the procedure in the video. He is shackled, strapped into chair, his head and hands belted back in restraints. A plastic tube is forced down his nostril, visibly causing pain. He is held down.
Bey begs for the force-feeding to stop and weeps.
Over 40 Guantanamo prisoners are subjected to this twice a day, an experience Reprieve reports can last two hours.
Warning: Viewers may find the video very disturbing.
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) demonstrates Guantanamo force-feeding Standard Operating ProcedureYasiin Bey appears in a video launched today demonstrating the Standard Operating Procedure for force-feeding prisoners on ...
Guantanamo prisoner Tariq Ba Odah--who's been held at the prison for 11 years without trial--has been force-fed like this since 2007, says the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents him.
The video marks the launch of a campaign encouraging justice supporters to embark on a hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners.
"President Obama could take the steps needed to release cleared prisoners from Guantanamo any time he likes, but so far has lacked the political courage to do so," stated Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's Director and attorney for Guantanamo prisoners. "We hope that public solidarity with the hunger-strikers in Guantanamo will persuade him to change his mind."
Also, the Obama administration refused on Monday to give legally binding assurances that the Guantanamo prisoners would not be force-fed during daylight hours of the Muslim holiday of Ramandan, during which observers fast during the day. Reprieve reports that the U.S. Department of Justice said that the force-feeding at night is "an accommodation, not a right." They merely have "plans" to execute the torturous procedure "absent any...operational issues" after sunset and before sunrise.
And if the prison officials do carry out the force-feedings of the dozens of prisoners in the limited hours between sunset and sunrise, lawyers with Reprieve have explained it would necessitate a "force-feeding factory."
Scoffing at President Obama's lawyers' position that the detainees are "'non-resident aliens [and] are not protected 'persons' within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," lawyers for the prisoners noted that "it hardly advances international respect for American democracy when the Supreme Court treats corporations as 'persons' but the President insists that the Guantanamo Bay detainees are not."
"If the Obama Administration is so sure they can feed these prisoners overnight, why won't they agree to give it legal weight?" added Cori Crider, Guantanamo Counsel and Strategic Director at Reprieve. "The worrying conclusion is that prisoners' rights during Ramadan will depend on the government's largesse."
"There is an easier way: Obama could stop this strike if he started freeing those prisoners who have been cleared for release by his own government," said Crider.
A new video further exposes the brutality of the force-feedings of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo.
Twice a day, every day at the prison, over 40 of the more than 100 hunger strikers who are protesting their indefinite detention are strapped down and force-fed in a procedure widely denounced as torture.
The video by human rights charity Reprieve and director Asif Kapadia captures the horrifying cruelty of the Standard Operating Procedure for the force-feeding.
Yasiin Bey--the actor and rapper formerly known as Mos Def--undergoes the procedure in the video. He is shackled, strapped into chair, his head and hands belted back in restraints. A plastic tube is forced down his nostril, visibly causing pain. He is held down.
Bey begs for the force-feeding to stop and weeps.
Over 40 Guantanamo prisoners are subjected to this twice a day, an experience Reprieve reports can last two hours.
Warning: Viewers may find the video very disturbing.
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) demonstrates Guantanamo force-feeding Standard Operating ProcedureYasiin Bey appears in a video launched today demonstrating the Standard Operating Procedure for force-feeding prisoners on ...
Guantanamo prisoner Tariq Ba Odah--who's been held at the prison for 11 years without trial--has been force-fed like this since 2007, says the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents him.
The video marks the launch of a campaign encouraging justice supporters to embark on a hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners.
"President Obama could take the steps needed to release cleared prisoners from Guantanamo any time he likes, but so far has lacked the political courage to do so," stated Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's Director and attorney for Guantanamo prisoners. "We hope that public solidarity with the hunger-strikers in Guantanamo will persuade him to change his mind."
Also, the Obama administration refused on Monday to give legally binding assurances that the Guantanamo prisoners would not be force-fed during daylight hours of the Muslim holiday of Ramandan, during which observers fast during the day. Reprieve reports that the U.S. Department of Justice said that the force-feeding at night is "an accommodation, not a right." They merely have "plans" to execute the torturous procedure "absent any...operational issues" after sunset and before sunrise.
And if the prison officials do carry out the force-feedings of the dozens of prisoners in the limited hours between sunset and sunrise, lawyers with Reprieve have explained it would necessitate a "force-feeding factory."
Scoffing at President Obama's lawyers' position that the detainees are "'non-resident aliens [and] are not protected 'persons' within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," lawyers for the prisoners noted that "it hardly advances international respect for American democracy when the Supreme Court treats corporations as 'persons' but the President insists that the Guantanamo Bay detainees are not."
"If the Obama Administration is so sure they can feed these prisoners overnight, why won't they agree to give it legal weight?" added Cori Crider, Guantanamo Counsel and Strategic Director at Reprieve. "The worrying conclusion is that prisoners' rights during Ramadan will depend on the government's largesse."
"There is an easier way: Obama could stop this strike if he started freeing those prisoners who have been cleared for release by his own government," said Crider.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy