Shackles, masks and nasal tubes: Gitmo revises force-feeding techniques (PHOTOS)

Hunger strikers being force-fed at Guantanamo Bay must wear masks over their mouths while being shackled to a restraint chair for up to two hours. Authorities have revised the way they feed the strikers, comparing their techniques to battlefield tactics.

Nasal tubes are jammed up the prisoners’ noses until a liquid
supplement reaches their stomachs. The tubes, which are 61cm in
length or even longer, stay in the prisoners’ nostrils until a
chest X-ray or a test dose of water show that the nutritional
supplement has reached the prisoner’s stomach. 

The shocking procedure doesn’t stop there. Detainees are then
sent to a “dry cell” with no running water while they undergo
supervision to make sure they don’t vomit. If they regurgitate
their supplement, they’re sent right back to the restraint
chair.

Details of the “chair restraint system clinical protocol” were
published in a newly revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for
Guantanamo hunger strikers. The document was obtained by Al
Jazeera, from the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which
has oversight over the joint task force that operates the highly
controversial prison.

The new policy went into effect March 5, just one month after
Guantanamo detainees launched the hunger strike in response to
alleged mistreatment and mishandling of their Korans.

“Just as battlefield tactics must change throughout the
course of a conflict, the medical responses to GTMO detainees who
hunger strike has evolved with time,” the revised SOP says. Two
weeks ago, 40 more nurses were sent to Guantanamo Bay to assist
with force-feedings.

Force-feeding is an extremely invasive and highly controversial
practice which many human rights activists – and the UN – say is
torturous. But what’s perhaps even more shocking than the procedure
itself is that the final decision regarding who will be force-fed
is left up to Guantanamo Commander John Smith – not physicians.

“In the event a detainee refrains from eating or drinking to
the point where it is determined by the medical assessment that
continued fasting will result in a threat to life or seriously
jeopardize health, and involuntary feeding is required, no direct
action will be taken without the knowledge and written approval of
Commander [Navy Rear Adm. John Smith, Jr.],” the document
says.

While doctors are, in fact, present at the site, they exist
solely to carry out the military’s commands.

According to Leonard Rubenstein, a lawyer at the Center of
Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University and the
Berman Institute of Bioethics, the document is alarming because it
makes clear that doctors and nurses are simply “adjuncts of
the security apparatus.”

“The clinical judgment of a doctor or a nurse is basically
trumped by this policy

This article originally appeared on : RT