US judge temporarily halts Guantánamo force-feeding

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

US judge temporarily halts Guantánamo force-feeding

Breakthrough legal ruling prevents Syrian prisoner on hunger strike being force-fed until a hearing on Wednesday

Reuters in Washington
theguardian.com, Friday 16 May 2014 22.30 EDT

In a surprise challenge to one of the most controversial practices at Guantánamo Bay, a federal judge on Friday ordered a temporary halt to the forcible feeding of a hunger-striking detainee, marking the first legal halt to what human rights groups and detainees consider an abusive practice.

Judge Gladys Kessler, of the US district court for the District of Columbia, barred military authorities at Guantánamo from performing an enteral feeding on Abu Wa’el Dhiab, a Syrian detainee, and from forcibly removing him from his cell for the purpose of feeding him.

Never before has a judge or any outside authority intervened in the hunger strike. Kessler ruled last year that she lacked the authority to do so, but an appeals court ruling in February decided that detainees at Guantánamo had the right to contest their force-feedings.

The Obama administration has defended the forcible feedings, in which a tube is inserted into a detainee’s stomach through the nose, as the most humane option to keep detainees taking part in the strike alive.





Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/17/us-judge-halts-guantanamo-force-feeding

[DeSwiss]

1. When force-feeding ''terrorists'' becomes the most humane option......

...for continuing to detain people who have not violated any law, been convicted in any court and not proven to have violated anyone else's rights -- that's when you know you live in a

[font size=10]POLICE STATE[/font]

- K&R

[951-Riverside]

2. Well said n/t

[The Blue Flower]

3. I've never been sadder for my country

To think that this is what we've come to breaks my heart.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Federal Judge Deals Major Blow to 'Years-Long Effort to Oppress Gitmo Prisoners'

Published on Saturday, May 17, 2014 by Common Dreams

Federal Judge Deals Major Blow to 'Years-Long Effort to Oppress Gitmo Prisoners'

Federal District Court judge orders halt to force-feeding, Forcible Cell Extraction of prisoner; orders video evidence must be kept.

- Andrea Germanos, staff writer

In a decision welcomed as "a major crack in Guantanamo's years-long effort to oppress prisoners," a federal judge on Friday ordered the United States to halt the force-feeding and "Forcible Cell Extractions" of a prisoner at the notorious offshore prison.

The order from District Court Judge Gladys Kessler also requires the U.S. to preserve videotapes of the FCEs and force-feedings of the inmate, Abu Wa'el Dhiab.

Forcible Cell Extractions or FCEs refer to when a team of guards forcibly remove from his cell a prisoner who refuses to submit to the torturous process of force-feeding.

According to Reprieve, a UK-based rights group that represents 15 Guantanamo prisoners, including Dhiab, the 42-year old Syrian was arrested in 2002 in Pakistani, where he and his family were living, and was turned over the the United States.

He has spent over a decade languishing at the prison, was never charged and was cleared for release in 2009. He is depressed and wheelchair-bound, the group says.

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/17

[Judi Lynn]

5. Obama Administration Resists Efforts to Preserve Videos of Guantanamo Force-Feeding

May 16, 2014
5:08 PM

Obama Administration Resists Efforts to Preserve Videos of Guantanamo Force-Feeding

LONDON - May 16 - Lawyers for the Obama administration have described as “frivolous” attempts to ensure that videos of force-feeding at Guantanamo Bay are not destroyed, in response to a case brought by a detainee over his mistreatment.

Legal charity Reprieve, acting on behalf of Abu Wa’el Dhiab – who has been cleared since 2009 but continues to be held without charge or trial – had sought to ensure that videos showing his force-feeding cannot be destroyed by the military.

However, the US Government is strongly resisting efforts to secure a court order preserving the videos, which could be crucial evidence for Mr Dhiab’s efforts to stop his force-feeding.

Government lawyers did however admit that “there are approximately 140 to 150 FCE videos of [Mr Dhiab] between April 9, 2013 and February 19, 2014 [and] it appears that the vast majority of these videos are of FCEs in connection with enteral feeding or otherwise arguably related to enteral feeding.” An FCE, or ‘Forcible Cell Extraction,’ is the process by which detainees who do not wish to be force-fed are restrained, often violently, and taken to the force-feeding chair.

More:
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2014/05/16-1