While many Americans were watching the George Zimmerman trial last week, actor and hip-hop recording artist Yasiin Bey shocked the world by allowing himself to be force-fed on video.
Formerly known as Mos Def, Bey agreed to work with The Guardian to show the public what prisoners in Guantanamo Bay face if they choose to engage in a hunger strike.
In addition to showing how incredibly painful and tortuous the force-feeding process is for prisoners, Bey helped publicize the hunger strike that is taking place at the
Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba.
Though the number of people engaged in the hunger strike is less than half of the center’s total prisoners, the act of solidarity should help shed light on the harsh living conditions being promoted at the detention center.
According to The New York Times, more than 80 Guantanamo Bay prisoners are engaged in a hunger strike for reasons including “offensive” military searches and “a growing despair that they would never go home.”
Although the process of force-feeding can be extremely painful, the decision among prisoners to engage in a hunger strike to protest the center’s conditions is wise. It’s about time the world knows what kind of inhumane acts go on within the prison.
In the last decade, many people have heard about Guantanamo Bay and its notorious past. To its liking or not, Guantanamo Bay has come to be synonymous with torture and advanced interrogation techniques of its prisoners.
According to a 2005 article from TIME, interrogation procedures within Guantanamo Bay included using a wet towel on prisoners to simulate suffocation.
An article from National Public Radio detailed prisoners having to perform humiliating sexual acts while at Guantanamo Bay as well.
It is clear that many highly questionable acts have taken place within Guantanamo Bay’s walls in the last decade.
By engaging in a hunger strike, prisoners are making public to the world what is truly going on within the prison. As shown in the Bey video, the act of force-feeding can easily be considered a tortuous act.
Under the supervision of several doctors, Bey made public the process that includes inserting a long, narrow tube into a prisoner’s nasal cavity to deliver food.
Recently, three prisoners requested to a federal judge that she block the policy of force-feeding, according to an article from The Washington Post.
Not surprisingly, the federal judge denied the request.
“There is nothing so shocking or inhumane in the treatment of petitioners — which they can avoid at will — to raise a constitutional concern that might otherwise necessitate review,” U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer wrote.
Although the policy of force-feeding will likely continue in the near future, the need for Americans to publicly discuss the harsh conditions in Guantanamo Bay is now.
As many know, Guantanamo Bay harbors suspected terrorists from around the globe.
Regardless of the prisoner’s past actions or political views, their rights should be respected and honored by the U.S. justice system.
After being interrogated with non-tortuous methods, prisoners should be formally charged with a crime.
Throwing prisoners in cells for more than a decade without a formal charge or hope of a trial is egregious.
If prisoners have terrorist affiliations or intentions to hurt America, charge them with a crime. If they don’t, let them go.
Treating prisoners inhumanely only serves to worsen America’s world image. The time to treat prisoners fairly and humanely is now.
Shane Newell is a junior journalism major and the opinions editor at the Daily 49er.