Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, has published an op-ed in the New York Times in which he describes being force-fed after participating in a hunger strike along with other detainees. From the piece, titled “Gitmo Is Killing Me,” published in Monday’s newspaper:
I will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube up my nose. I can’t describe how painful it is to be force-fed this way. As it was thrust in, it made me feel like throwing up. I wanted to vomit, but I couldn’t. 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.
I am still being force-fed. Two times a day they tie me to a chair in my cell. My arms, legs and head are strapped down. I never know when they will come. Sometimes they come during the night, as late as 11 p.m., when I’m sleeping.
According to the Times, Samir Naji al Hasan Moqbel “told this story, through an Arabic interpreter, to his lawyers at the legal charity Reprieve in an unclassified telephone call.”
Over the weekend, guards and prisoners clashed at the prison over the hunger strike, the Associated Press reported. According to the Huffington Post, 43 detainees are on hunger strike, and 13 of those prisoners are being force-fed.
