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For Immediate Release
June, 18 2014, 08:51am EDT
Contact:
press office: (US) katherine.oshea@reprieve.org, +1 (917) 855 8064
Guantanamo Force-Feeding: Court Hearing Today 10am EST
Lawyers for a hunger-striking prisoner at Guantanamo Bay will today appear before a judge, having viewed video evidence of force-feedings for the first time in the history of the prison.
The DC federal court will discuss what further evidence the US government should provide in order to determine whether the force-feeding practice is humane, as the government claims, or an abuse that should be stopped, as prisoners have said.
WASHINGTON
Lawyers for a hunger-striking prisoner at Guantanamo Bay will today appear before a judge, having viewed video evidence of force-feedings for the first time in the history of the prison.
The DC federal court will discuss what further evidence the US government should provide in order to determine whether the force-feeding practice is humane, as the government claims, or an abuse that should be stopped, as prisoners have said.
Abu Wa'el Dhiab, a father of four from Syria, is one of several hunger-striking prisoners currently asking the DC District Court to order a halt to the practice of force-feeding at Guantanamo. Mr Dhiab, who is in failing health, has been held at the US prison without charge or trial since 2002. He was cleared for release by the Obama Administration in 2009.
Lawyers from legal non-profit Reprieve, which is representing Mr Dhiab, have now viewed 28 tapes of his so-called 'forcible cell extractions' and forced feedings, dating back to April 2013. The tapes were produced by the prison authorities after Judge Gladys Kessler ordered them to be handed over as evidence.
Last week, an affidavit from a fellow prisoner, Ahmed Rabbani, revealed that the prison authorities had confiscated Mr Dhiab's wheelchair and, when he was unable to walk to force-feeding sessions, dragged him forcibly to the feeding chair. Last week, he said, staff beat Mr Dhiab "so badly, he had blood in his feces. I heard him vomiting for much of the night."
It also surfaced that during the same period - and after the judge's order to disclose taped evidence - Guantanamo authorities stopped videotaping forcible cell extractions for what is believed to be the first time in over nine years.
Cori Crider, Reprieve attorney for Mr Dhiab, said: "While I'm not allowed to discuss the contents of these videos, I can say that I had trouble sleeping after viewing them. I have no doubt that if President Obama forced himself to watch them, he would release my client tomorrow."
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. Today's status hearing will take place at 10am EST at the District of Columbia District Court, 333 Constitution Ave NW #4400, Washington, DC 20001.
2. Documents submitted to the court by Reprieve, including Mr Rabbani's affidavit, can be viewed here.
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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— CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) ( @cairnational.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent consideration of the op-ed, so that creates unto itself a very significant substantial claim that the op-ed—that is, the expression of one's opinion as ordinarily protected by the First Amendment—form the basis of this particular detention," the judge continued, adding that Öztürk's "continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens."
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"Rümeysa Öztürk has finally been ordered released," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said on social media. "She has been unlawfully detained for more than six weeks in an ICE facility in Louisiana, more than 1,500 miles away from Somerville. This is a victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy."
In the United States, we guarantee free speech. No one here will lose their rights and freedom for publishing an op-ed. This is a win for the rule of law. Rümeysa is free!
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— Representative Becca Balint ( @balint.house.gov) May 9, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that "it is unfathomable that in the United States legal system, it takes 45 days for a judge to rule that people can't be put behind bars for writing op-eds the government doesn't like."
"Without a system committed to its principles, the Constitution is just words on paper, and they don't mean much if this can happen here," Stern continued. "Öztürk's abduction and imprisonment is one of the most shameful chapters in First Amendment history."
"We're thankful that Judge Sessions moved it one step closer to an end and we call on the Trump administration to release Öztürk immediately and not attempt to stall with any further authoritarian nonsense," he added.
Amid President Donald Trump's defunding threats and pressure from ICE officials, universities have told "many hundreds" of international students that they have lost their immigration status and must immediately self-deport. These notifications were based on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) termination of students' records on the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database used by schools and authorities to access visa information.
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"Well, the Constitution is clear—and that of course is the supreme law of the land—that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion," Miller told reporters at the White House. No foreign entity has invaded the United States since Japanese forces landed in the Aleutian Islands in the then-territory of Alaska during World War II.
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It wasn't just Democrats and Palestine defenders who cheered Sessions' ruling Friday. Billy Binion, who covers "all things injustice" for the libertarian website Reason, said on social media that the government's "entire case against her is that... she wrote an op-ed."
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