“The UN and numerous other authoritative bodies have quite explicitly stated that the force-feeding that goes on in Guantanamo is torture. Forcing someone to accept treatment which they’re competent to refuse is an assault.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/22973263 A prisoner currently on hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay has described the pain and discomfort of the force feeding regime at the jail.
Algerian detainee Ahmed Belbacha, in testimony given to the BBC, said the process “hurts a great deal” and many prisoners vomit.
He has been held at the US military prison in Cuba for 11 years, but was cleared for release 6 years ago.
Doctors have called for the detainees to receive independent medical care.
On Wednesday, The Lancet published a letter signed by more than 150 doctors and medical professionals to US President Barack Obama saying the hunger strikers needed doctors they could trust.
Mr Belbacha, 43, told the BBC’s Newshour programme through his lawyer: “I tell the doctors that force- feeding me is a violation of their medical ethics, but they say that the order comes from the guards and they have no control.”
Mr Belbacha said prisoners are shackled as they are force-fed and strapped into a feeding chair with their hands tied to their stomachs. The process is often made worse by the “inexperience or indifference” of medical staff.
At least 100 prisoners are protesting against their indefinite detention by refusing food.
“Sometimes they botch putting the tube in and tears stream down my cheek. They used to use my left nostril but it stopped working,”
