Mos Def Undergoes Force-Feeding in Guantanamo Protest

Rapper Mos Def has subjected himself to force-feeding in protest against use of the procedure in Guantanamo Bay. 

Human Rights charity Reprieve enlisted Mos Def – aka Dante Smith, aka Yasiin Bey – to take part in the painful, violating process of feeding through a tube using the same method prisoners in the US camp in Cuba are reportedly subjected to. The process is called enteral feeding, which involves insertion of a tube through the nose and directly into the stomach.

“Warning: some viewers may find these images distressing,” the preface warns before showing Bey, wearing prison-issue orange, strapped to a chair and put through the traumatic procedure. The warning allows viewers to draw their own conclusions about the fact that a great many of the Guantanamo detainees prisoners have had no formal charges filed against them, have been given no legal representation and exist in a virtual living hell 24 hours a day. Concepts of due process, human rights and above all dignity are scorched from the mind upon entry here. There is only the complete commanding control of the America that happens behind barbed wire, off-camera – where terms like ‘prisoner abuse’ (a frequent problem at Gitmo) are dismissed far more readily due to accompanying ‘terrorist’ propaganda.

Try not to drown in the irony of a Triscuit ad playing before this force-feeding video:

 

Over 100 prisoners in Guantanamo have been hunger-striking since February this year in protest of their ongoing detention without charges or trial. Unbelievably, many of the prisoners have been cleared for release by the US Government, but remain unreleased. In a backhanded mercy, authorities have reportedly begun scheduling force-feedings at night in ‘respect’ for the holy period of Ramadan, which begins today, despite pleas from Islamic leaders to cease such actions. 
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