Mos Def undergoes force-feeding for Guantanamo

[garbon]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mos-def-force-fed-guantanamo-detainee-article-1.1393221

Yasiin Bey, the actor and activist formerly known as Mos Def, submitted to the type of force-feeding imposed on hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay — and it wasn't pretty.

The Brooklyn-born entertainer joined with the human rights group Reprieve to demonstrate what the hunger strikers are enduring at the U.S. military lockup. The demonstration was videotaped and posted online Monday.

In the graphic footage, Bey, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, writhes in his restraints, then wretches and coughs as a feeding tube is inserted up his nose and down into his stomach.

When the tube comes out and is about to be re-inserted, Bey pleads for those administering the feeding to stop and partially breaks free from his restraint.

"This is me, please stop, I can't do it," Bey says. A voice off camera then told the group to "stop."

Then, Bey is shown weeping and is comforted by a member of the group.

The U.S. government has used the detention center on the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to hold terrorism suspects apprehended since 9/11.

Detainees upset over the handling of their Korans during cell searches launched a hunger strike in February. The hunger strike has grown to 106 participants, 45 of whom were being force fed due to weight loss as of Monday, according to the Pentagon.

Called "enteral feeding," the force-feeding begins by restraining the hunger striker in an upright chair, followed by insertion of the feeding tube. A nutritional shake is forced into the detainee's stomach via a large syringe attached to the back of the tube.

The Pentagon asserts that he practice is humane and necessary for the detainees' safety and survival.

Human rights activists claim the force feeding amounts to torture.

A federal judge hearing a Syrian detainee's suit for a halt to force-feeding ruled Monday that she lacks jurisdiction to rule, but said the practice appears to violate international law.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said there appears to be a consensus that force-feeding amounts to inhumane treatment and she noted President Obama has the power to address the issue.

Obama has sought to close the prison since taking office in 2009, and his administration ruled that 86 current detainees are clear for release to their home governments—most of them Yemeni.

Instability in Yemen and other countries, however, has prevented the transfers abroad, while Congress has repeatedly barred transfer of prisoners into the U.S.

I had no desire to watch the video, but I am curious as to what is being agitated for. I get that human rights activists are saying this treatment is humane, but what's their alternate solution (presumably there is one though I don't think I've heard it)?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Everyone just has to be peaceful and calmly discuss their problems and come to equable solutions that everybody can live with.

[Syt]

I get that human rights activists are saying this treatment is humane

[garbon]

I get that human rights activists are saying this treatment is humane

[Admiral Yi]

I had no desire to watch the video, but I am curious as to what is being agitated for. I get that human rights activists are saying this treatment is humane, but what's their alternate solution (presumably there is one though I don't think I've heard it)?

Presumably to release them from Gitmo.

[Eddie Teach]

He was pretty good in Ghostbusters.

[Darth Wagtaros]

He was pretty good in Ghostbusters.

What?

[lustindarkness]

So, what is worst? Force feed them? Or let them starve themselves to death?

[Darth Wagtaros]

So, what is worst? Force feed them? Or let them starve themselves to death?

Letting them starve.  Then they win.

[derspiess]

So, what is worst? Force feed them? Or let them starve themselves to death?

Yeah, I don't really see the logic.  Of course, I never quite understood hunger strikes in the first place.

[garbon]

So, what is worst? Force feed them? Or let them starve themselves to death?

Yeah, I don't really see the logic.  Of course, I never quite understood hunger strikes in the first place.

Well isn't the point of a hunger strike to get sympathy/pressure from the outside to get changes made?

[Gups]

Worked for Mahatma.

Weren't most of the hunger strikers cleared for rlease 4 years ago? I wouldn't have much of an appetite if I was kept indefinately in a prison camp without trial either.

[derspiess]

Well isn't the point of a hunger strike to get sympathy/pressure from the outside to get changes made?

I suppose.  But I just have a hard time understanding why anyone has empathy for someone harming himself by not eating. 

[derspiess]

Worked for Mahatma.

Weren't most of the hunger strikers cleared for rlease 4 years ago? I wouldn't have much of an appetite if I was kept indefinately in a prison camp without trial either.

They get all the free Froot Loops they want.  Sounds like a vacation to me.

[Maximus]

Well isn't the point of a hunger strike to get sympathy/pressure from the outside to get changes made?

I suppose.  But I just have a hard time understanding why anyone has empathy for someone harming himself by not eating.

Yeah, I'm with you there. Never got that.