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Journalism of Courage
A Yemeni man,one of dozens of prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay prison,gave a dramatic account of force feedings and the conditions in the detention centre in an op-ed published Monday in the New York Times.
Samir Najal al Hasan Moqbel,who said he has been held for 11 years and three months without charges,wrote that he has lost about 30 pounds since he began to refuse food on February 10 and would not eat until they restore my dignity.
In March,he was in the prison hospital and refused to eat. He described his first force feeding:
A team from the ERF (Extreme Reaction Force),a squad of eight military police officers in riot gear,burst in. They tied my hands and feet to the bed. They forcibly inserted an IV into my hand. I spent 26 hours in this state,tied to the bed. During this time I was not permitted to go to the toilet. They inserted a catheter,which was painful,degrading and unnecessary. I was not even permitted to pray… There was agony in my chest,throat and stomach. I had never experienced such pain before. I would not wish this cruel punishment upon anyone.
The detention camp at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba holds 166 men,most of them captured more than a decade ago in counter-terrorism operations. The prisoners are not allowed contact with the media.
The US Navy said 43 prisoners have been on hunger strike,including 11 who were being force fed nutrients. On Saturday,guards swept through communal cells and moved prisoners into individual cells in an attempt to end the hunger strike.
Moqbel wrote that no one seriously thinks I am a threat,. He had gone to Afghanistan from Yemen on the advice of a friend in 2000 to seek work and was arrested in Pakistan where he had fled after the US invasion in 2001.
Asked about its decision to publish the article,New York Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said,Guantanamo is run by the US and these hunger strikes are happening. Readers have a right to know.
