Mos Def force fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure (four-minute film)

[1983-2011]

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As Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay continue their protest. More than 40 of them are being force-fed. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. In this four-minute film made by Human Rights organisation Reprieve and Bafta award-winning director Asif Kapadia, US actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), experiences the procedure.

[1983-2011]

Obama urged to halt Ramadan force-feeding at Guantánamo

Islamic community leaders are calling on the Obama administration to rethink its policy of force-feeding hunger-striking detainees in Guantánamo during the month-long fast of Ramadan that begins on Monday. The US government has said that barring "unforeseen emergency or operational issues" it will respect the daylight fast by trying only to force feed 45 detainees at night. Muslim groups say that by refusing to suspend the practice during Ramadan the US is adding insult to injury. "We believe it's wrong to force feed at any time but it is particularly upsetting to do it through Ramadan," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman of the largest US Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, the Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He said the situation was Kafkaesque: "It's not just a religious issue, it's also a human rights issue in violation of international norms and medical ethics." Dr Azzam Tamimi, an Islamic community leader in Britain, said he hoped the Obama administration would reconsider. "As Ramadan starts, this issue is becoming increasingly embarrassing for the US government; it's about time President Obama took a brave decision to end this in a way that would be appreciated around the Islamic world." The continuation of force-feeding through Ramadan is being legally challenged by four of the 106 detainees who are on hunger strike in protest at their prolonged detention without trial. A lawsuit filed with a federal court in Washington last week argues that night-time feeding could lead to long periods without water, endangering the hunger strikers. To mark the beginning of Ramadan, the human rights group Reprieve has released to the Guardian a video in which the actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) submits himself to the enteral feeding imposed in Guantánamo. When the first tube was dislodged, he was unable to go ahead with a second attempt by the medical team to insert it. The star said that he volunteered to be force-fed by two volunteer doctors to highlight what was happening to the hunger strikers in Guantánamo. The four-minute video, directed by Bafta award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia, seeks to reconstruct the specific force-feeding instructions set out in standard operating guidelines from Guantánamo leaked to al-Jazeera. It shows a plastic tube being inserted through Bey's nostril into his stomach. The "Medical Management Standard Operating Procedure" document leaked from the detention camp defines a hunger striker as a detainee who has missed at least nine consecutive meals or whose weight has fallen to less than 85% of his ideal body weight. If force feeding is deemed medically necessary, medical personnel shackle the detainee "and a mask is placed over the detainee's mouth to prevent spitting and biting". A feeding tube is then passed through the detainee's nostril into the stomach. The process takes about 20 to 30 minutes but they can be required to stay in the restraint chair for up to two hours until a chest x-ray confirms the nutrient has reached their stomach. The prisoner is then removed from restraint chair to "dry cell" where they are observed by a guard for up to an hour "for any indication of vomiting or attempts to induce vomiting". If they do vomit, they are returned to the restraint chair for the entire duration of the observation period in subsequent feeds. If they bite the tube, the guards hold their head still for "as long as necessary for the detainee to relax his jaw". Other religious groups have also spoken out against the practice. Last month Bishop Richard Pates, chair of the committee on international justice and peace for the US conference of Catholic bishops, wrote to the defence secretary Chuck Hagel noting the opposition of the International Committee of the Red Cross to force-feeding. "Rather than resorting to such measures, our nation should first do everything it can to address the conditions of despair that have led to this protest."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/08/obama-urged-halt-ramadan-guantanamo

[1983-2011]

Guantánamo authorities 'planning Ramadan force-feeding factory'

Lawyers acting for four detainees on hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay have accused the US government of preparing to operate a "force-feeding factory" in the camp during the holy month of Ramadan. In a new legal filing lodged with a federal court in Washington, lawyers for the men argue that the feedings during Ramadan will lead to mass use of restraint chairs, require hundreds of staff to administer and could be dangerous for the health of detainees. "If this can even be achieved, Guantánamo Bay will become a veritable force-feeding factory," the lawyers write. In response to earlier legal challenges, the US government has refused to suspend force feeding through tubes directly into the stomachs of detainees during Ramadan. Some 45 men out of 106 currently on hunger strike are being enterally fed in this way. The government defends the practice by saying it is "humane, high-quality medical care to preserve life and health". When Ramadan starts on Monday, the daytime fast will be respected if possible and force feedings will only take place before dawn or after sunset. However, the government has added a proviso, implying that daytime force feeding might be necessary, given "any unforeseen emergency or operational issues". Four hunger strikers are challenging that equivocal plan in the courts: Shaker Aamer, a British resident who has been held without trial in Guantánamo for more than 11 years, Ahmed Belbacha, Nabil Hadjarab and Abu Wa'el. Their lawyers, Cori Crider of the human rights charity Reprieve and Jon Eisenberg, argue in the new court filing that involuntary feeding at night will have a drastic impact. They point out that force feedings are normally carried out twice a day, with the procedure taking up to 30 minutes and the detainee then placed in a "dry cell" without water for up to two hours, in an attempt to stop them vomiting. Between sunset and sunrise – which on the first full day of Ramadan will occur at 7.44pm and 6.28am at the US naval base in Cuba – there will be just 10 hours and 44 minutes available to camp wardens to carry out two force feedings each of 45 detainees involving an hour in total of feeding time and up to four hours of observation per man. The filing suggests that could require "dozens of restraint chairs and hundreds of staff. The fasting detainees, who may not take water during the daylight hours of Ramadan, will be spending up to four more nighttime hours without access to water as well as being under physical restraint, putting them at substantial risk of dehydration and sleep deprivation". The hunger strike was launched in February, as a protest against the legal limbo in which many of the 166 detainees at Guantánamo find themselves and against President Obama's failure to honour his 2008 promise to close the camp. In May, Obama said he would renew efforts to shut Guantánamo down, lamenting that it had "become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law". The four hunger strikers are appealing to the US court for the District of Columbia to ban force feeding at Guantánamo generally, and during Ramadan specifically. Their lawyers argue that the practice prolongs their indefinite detention, which is in itself a human rights violation. The filing notes that the US government sees force feeding as necessary to prevent detainees "laying waste to their bodies". But it counters that their indefinite detention is "laying waste to their souls".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/05/guantanamo-hunger-strike-ramadan-force-feeding