Deadline for Videos of Alleged Force-Feeding Torture, Abuse in Guantanamo Bay Prison Set
A case to try and ban the humiliating and allegedly torturous practice of force-feeding inmates in Guantanamo Bay is moving forward as a district court judge in Washington, D.C., ordered videos be released to the public by Oct. 20, Al-Jazeera reported.
Media organizations petitioned for the hearing to be open and for the videos to be made available to the public.
Judge Gladys Kessler previously ordered that the tapes be released, provided only the voice and face of Syrian hunger striker Abu Wa'el Dhiab, who has been released from the prison but has stayed to fight the practice, are public and all other voices and faces are redacted.
On Thursday, Kessler released a timetable for the tapes: Oct. 17 is the deadline for the redactions to be made, and release to the media organizations is due by Oct. 20.
The three-day hearing of Dhiab's case, though only partly open, was the first of its kind revealing daily operations at Guantanamo. The government tried to keep the proceedings closed.
Dhiab was detained in 2002, was never charged, and has been cleared for release since 2009.
Those petitioning on behalf of Dhiab are calling for an end to forcible cell extractions (FCEs) and force-feedings. They also want Dhiab to be given a wheelchair and for use of a restraining char to stop.
Instead of calling witnesses, the government used documents to prove that Dhiab was treated fairly and humanely while in Guantanamo.
In contrast, U.K.-based rights group Reprieve attorneys representing Dhiab brought doctors to the witness stand.
They also defended the use of the nasal feeding tubes twice daily as a necessity to protect Dhiab from infection and from potentially strangling himself with the tube.
Al-Jazeera reported, based on the experience of one of their own cameramen who was detained in Gitmo, that the force-feedings are done by male nurses who feel it is against their occupations ethics to allow an individual to die without attempting to save them.
Still, some see the force-feedings as a form of torture by detainees and have a lasting effect on their lives.
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