Guantanamo strikers' force-feeding adapted to Ramadan

[BlueStorm]

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE (Reuters) - U.S. medical officers at the Guantanamo Bay detention center adjusted the force-feeding schedule for two long-time hunger strikers so they could fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, doctors at the U.S. navy base said.

To prevent them from dying, the U.S. military had been force-feeding them with liquid nutrients administered twice a day via tubes inserted into their nostrils and down into their stomachs, doctors at the detainee hospital told journalists.

The two detainees being force-fed are the last holdouts of a hunger strike that included a fifth of the camp population in June this year. Medical personnel in early 2006 began strapping the hunger strikers into restraint chairs to prevent them from vomiting up the tube-fed liquid.

Detainees have said that the force-feeding caused unbearable pain and amounted to torture, and the practice has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups. Medical associations have called it unethical.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061101/wl_nm/security_guantanamo_ramadan_dc

I wasn't even aware that this was going on, of course I am not blind to what has happened at Guatanamo and I am glad that they at least respected these detainees' holiday.

I don't know if this has been mentioned before.

Blue

[elehhhhna]

1. K&R, Welcome Blue.

:patriot:

[BlueStorm]

3. Thank you... I just found some bits in this news

a bit disturbing. I knew that there were tortures going on but I really don't care for forced feeding. I think I would have done the same in that situation as well, who wants to live in a prison without representation or even a chance to see a judge to protest your incarceration.

This kind of treatment pisses me of to no end. I knew from the moment the news came in that something was going to go down there. I knew from the news that the guards shaved off their heads and beards that ill treatment was going to ensue.

Bush is a fucking monster!!! He needs to be booted out of the White House and I am hoping, no praying that the Dems gain a majority in both the House and the Senate. And I am not talking about the piddling Dems that bow down to Bush and the Repukes and say "Yes Sir!! What ever you want Sir!!" I am talking about real Dems, the ones with the backbones and the balls to stand up for this country. Now I have been reading DU on certain candidates in certain districts that seem to be like that, unfortunately they are in places that I can't vote, I could send them money but I am so poor that I can't afford that. I will however pray to the Divine that He/She/It will look down upon us with pure love of democratic ideals and humanitarism and right this wrong that is Bush.

Blue

[ismnotwasm]

2. I read about it in a medical journal

The Lancet, or maybe it was on PubMed. I inadvertently came across it. The doctor who wrote the article had experience with prisoners and hunger strikes, evidently originally supported the idea of force feeding.

What he learned about Guantanamo changed his mind. He wrote the article more or less condemning the practice. It's beyond ugly.

I'm also glad they are honoring Ramadan, but the whole situation makes me sick.

[Supersedeas]

4. it is part of a whole

[SoCalDem]

5. How "considerate" of us.

:eyes: