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YOU MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING IMAGES AND VIDEOS DISTURBING. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
YOU MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING IMAGES AND VIDEOS DISTURBING. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
Force-Feeding Detainees
Detainees held in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps have initiated both individual and widespread hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, and camp medical authorities have initiated force-feeding programs. In 2005, Captain John Edmonson, who was then Naval Base's chief medical officer, asserted that force feeding was a last resort, used only when counseling failed, and when the detainee's body mass index fell below the healthy range. According to Edmonson detainees normally cooperated, and restraints were unnecessary. According to Edmonson detainees were normally only given 1500 Calories per day. The UN Human Rights Commission said it regards force-feeding at Guantanamo as a form of torture and the World Medical Association specifically prohibited force-feeding in its Declaration of Tokyo. Rapper Yasiin Bey, also known as Mos Def, volunteered for a demonstration with Reprieve based on the leaked documents of the procedure. Guantanamo medical personnel criticized the demonstration as false. One nurse said of the detainees, "Most are asking us to hurry up, make it go faster."