‘Gitmo force-feeding in Ramadan extra violation’
The force-feeding of detainees at the notorious U.S.-run Guantanamo prison is a violation of their human rights and continuing to force-feed the Muslim prisoners during the holy month of Ramadan is “an extra violation”, an antiwar activist says.
The American Medical Association and other international medical associations have also said that force-feeding is a human rights violation, said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, a social justice movement working to end U.S.-funded wars.
The Obama administration has refused to halt force-feeding of Guantanamo hunger strikers during the holy month of Ramadan and says the U.S. federal court has no jurisdiction to intervene in the matter
“To force-feed the prisoners during the month of Ramadan is an extra violation because it’s a violation of their religious beliefs…and puts into stark view for the world to see how the U.S. is abusing the basic rights of these prisoners,” Benjamin added.
The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that force-feeding creates no religious problems for the Muslim prisoners during the holy month of Ramadan as it will be administered only at night, the Huffington Post reported.
Over 130 of the 166 Guantanamo Bay prisoners are on a hunger strike that started almost 5 months ago.
The force-feeding is supposedly intended to prevent prisoners from starving to death. However, human rights groups have condemned the practice, saying it amounts to torture.
Likewise, prisoners have described the force-feeding process as painful and degrading and their lawyers say the "grotesque" and inhumane treatment is banned by international law.
The Guantanamo prison was established by the Bush administration and has been used by the U.S. military since 2002.
Shutting down the Guantanamo detention camp was a central theme of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 as he acknowledged that the prison was a symbol of the U.S. government’s violation of human rights.
However, now after nearly five years, a Guantanamo prisoner, Abdelhadi Faraj, who was cleared for release in 2010, has said in a letter that the situation at the prison complex has worsened under Obama compared to the time of his predecessor George W. Bush.
