Islamic leaders call on
administration to rethink policy towards hunger-striking detainees during
religious fast, Guantanomo Bay, Cuba.
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 have begun 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 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."
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