Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force-fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jul/08/mos-def-force-fed-guantanamo-bay-video

by Ovid • 13 years ago

137 93 13 years ago

guardian.co.uk

herge2• 13 years ago

Recently read a headline I could not believe was not from The Onion: "Guantanamo Bay Prisoners force fed at night during Ramadan"

Ovid2• 13 years ago

It's horrifying. Might as well force-feed them pork.

And the US knows that this is illegal, too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/05/forcefee...

StavrosK2• 13 years ago

No, they force-fed them at night, which is when they could eat. It's still fucked up, but at least it's not a sin.

simonsarris• 13 years ago

Isn't that consistent with normal force-feeding, except its properly respecting Ramadan?

The fast of Ramadan begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. So force-feeding them at night is the religiously observant thing to do.

(To say nothing about force-feeding in general)

herge2• 13 years ago

So we (if only we could just blame the Americans, but we are all responsible, unfortunately) respect their religious rights but completely ignore their rights to liberty or even a fair trail.

You have to admit, it's hilarious. Even the Soviets could not have made up this stuff.

bayesianhorse2• 13 years ago

It's just a tad ironic. Disrespect their basic rights to freedom, fair trial, cause them physical harm and torture - but respect a small point of ramadan fasting procedure...

deelowe• 13 years ago

For Ramandan, you can't eat during the day. There's nothing against eating at night.

napoleoncomplex• 13 years ago

Guantanamo Bay is one of the most disgusting institutions in the "civilized world". How is this acceptable? Treating humans as garbage, no trial, just meat stored for torture.

Every day this piece of shit prison is open is a god damn disgrace for the entire human race.

BellsOnSunday• 13 years ago

Next time vote for someone who definitely, honest-to-god promises to close it if they get in. Of course, you might have done that last time as well...

skore• 13 years ago

Indeed. Obama blaming congress today is, unfortunately, a case of plausible deniability.

sirsar2• 13 years ago

There was, initially, some semblance of progress:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ClosureOfGuantana...

bbwharris3• 13 years ago

While I agree it is a disgrace, what do you plan to do with the detainees?

If they weren't "terrorists" before, they most likely are now. Think about it, that's the real problem.

I'm not defending it, I think it should be closed too.

These humans have been subjected to complete hell.

cabalamat• 13 years ago

If they want to die, why not jut let them?

StavrosK2• 13 years ago

What else would you do with them, other than set them free?

"Oh I have this guy in my basement I've been torturing for four years, I can't let him go now because he's going to want to kill me".

Are you serious?

PavlovsCat2• 13 years ago

If they weren't "terrorists" before, they most likely are now. Think about it, that's the real problem.

You speak as if the rest of the world isn't noticing wtf is happening there, including the families of the detainees. As if these people being kept there wouldn't motivate a lot more people to become terrorists, than freeing them would.

This isn't even burning the village to save the village. This is nuking a whole hemisphere to turn off an alarm clock.

peterkelly2• 13 years ago

One idea would be to bring them on to American soil and treat them under the same conditions as those held in US jails and in accordance with US law, instead of doing it in Cuba of all places.

morsch• 13 years ago

I don't see how you can be so sure the prisoners are most likely to be (if given the chance) terrorists now. I'm sure many will harbour extreme hate after what's been done to them, but most people don't deal with extreme hate by blowing other people up. Long-time prisoners of the FARC aren't given the third degree to make sure they don't intend to blow up Colombians or even go on a revenge spree against the FARC.

Maybe many of these people just want to go home and try to forget the last 10 years of their life?

All that said I understand that it's a terrible position to be in, having imprisoned these people for such a long time. The thing is, it just keeps getting worse and worse...

rayiner5• 13 years ago

Guantanamo has better conditions than most prisons. The "torture" happens elsewhere. You think a regular prison wouldn't engage in force feeding if prisoners went on hunger strike? See: http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/guantanamo-is-not-an-an....

The problem with Guantanamo isn't the conditions. Its the legal limbo the prisoners are caught in.

madaxe7• 13 years ago

Not in the UK they wouldn't, no. Only in your barbarous country do such things (legally) happen in prisons. We recently had a debate over Ian Brady staying in a mental prison vs. prison prison, as under psychiatric care they can force feed you, but not in prison.

PavlovsCat2• 13 years ago

You have a point in that torture happens elsewhere, too.

But there is still the difference between torturing people in your prisons for things they allegedly did in your country, with charges and sometimes (rarely though) a trial even -- and just kidnapping them from all over the world, and then treating them so badly that just this bad treatment is argument enough for some people to accept that Guantanamo needs to stay open.

Also:

http://www.google.de/search?q=guantanamo+detainees&tbm=isch vs. http://www.google.de/search?q=prison+inmates&tbm=isch

http://www.loonwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/prisoner...

^ You're not going to tell me that's just because the fashion sense that developed in Guantanamo is quirky that way? That this doesn't make your stomach turn?

The problem with Guantanamo isn't the conditions. Its the legal limbo the prisoners are caught in.

Why can't it both be a problem? If Guantamo was a luxury hotel, we would envy the legal limbo. This is like saying something isn't torture, because "the" torture is happening elsewhere.

sirsar2• 13 years ago

All in the name of the war on terror

mcphilip• 13 years ago

The process of having a feeding tube inserted into one's nose is extremely painful, much more so than you'd expect. Out of all the injuries I've had (e.g. broken collar bone, 4 concussions, etc), none reached the immediate pain intensity level as having a feeding tube inserted.

For me, the tube felt way too small to fit. Blood started trickling down the back of my throat and my whole body seized up in pain. It's scary to have such an internalized pain immediately next to one's brain.

Shivetya• 13 years ago

Tell her http://youtu.be/YJIFOCbPTjo

This little girl seems to have it down pat. her biggest issue is getting past gag relex

jlgreco• 13 years ago

Oh, well if she is fine with it then he must have been hallucinating. /s

What utter shit.

ukoto• 13 years ago

Thanks Obama.

rwmj• 13 years ago

Direct link to the mp4 (video) file: http://cdn.theguardian.tv/mainwebsite/2013/7/5/130705MosDef-...

lists• 13 years ago

That got worse when I turned the sound on.

shirro• 13 years ago

That makes me feel like waving my countries flag proudly. Mainly because it isn't the US flag.

kilkurdu• 13 years ago

It's really a corrupted country.

elleferrer2• 13 years ago

So...I kind of don't feel bad about this ever since those allegations of domestic violence surfaced.

madaxe7• 13 years ago

So, torture in Guantanamo is OK?

elleferrer2• 13 years ago

No, torture in Guantanamo is not OK.

As for Mos Def the artist, awesome. As Mos Def the person, meh.

charlieflowers• 13 years ago

Surely everyone watching this had their bullshit detectors go off???

Regardless of how you feel about Guantanamo Bay, there is clearly some acting -- some "dramatic exaggeration" -- going on in this video.

Bey volunteered to undergo the procedure. So he knew they would stop at any point if he asked them to. There was no need, therefore, for all the screaming of "no" and "please don't."

For Bey, this procedure was akin to you or I needing a painful procedure performed at the doctor's office. You might hate it, you might cry out in pain, but you don't react with the distress of knowing that you're being forced against your will.

If someone wants to make a video for the purpose of exposing me to some truth I'm unaware of, great. But don't go enhancing it with your own bullshit. There's already enough propaganda and bullshit for me to discern my way through to start with.

Buzaga3• 13 years ago

please make an AMA mr fountain of the truth, I'd like to know more.

Buzaga3• 13 years ago

that's a very normal reaction, lookup any 'funny' video of people not being able to hold the pain of getting tattooed... they wanted it done, they paid, they try to sustain what they're going through since they accepted it in the first place(which is not the case of your criminal country abductees) and then it explodes in a violent reaction when they figure out "I really can't take it", go, look it up.

Buzaga3• 13 years ago

* criminal government would be the right term of course as this is not exactly done in light of it's people scrutinity.

Splendor• 13 years ago

Relevant video of Christopher Hitchens being voluntarily waterboarded: http://youtu.be/4LPubUCJv58

bayesianhorse2• 13 years ago

God bless the land of the free.

Oh I forgot, it's not on US soil, so human rights don't apply.

Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force-fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure

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