We are the most civilized torturers!

Guantanamo prison to synchronize force-feedings to Ramadan fast
By Carol Rosenberg
The Miami Herald

Published: July 3, 2013

The U.S. prison at Guantánamo has sufficient military medical staff to synchronize forced-feedings to the Ramadan fast and will only feed hunger strikers after sunset and before dawn, a prison spokesman said Tuesday.

Navy Capt. Robert Durand said that the detention center had for years only fed Ramadan-observing detainees at night during Islam’s holy month, and this year would be no different — even with the majority of captives on hunger strike.

“We understand that observing the daytime fast and taking nothing by mouth or vein is an essential component of Muslim observance of Ramadan,” Durand said. “And for those detainees on hunger strike we will ensure that our preservation of life through enteral feeding does not violate the tenets of their faith.”

“Enteral feed” is Guantánamo’s term for the process by which U.S. soldiers shackle a captive into a restraint chair, often inside a prison cell, then a Navy nurse inserts a tube into the captive’s nose to deliver a nutritional supplement down the back of his throat and into his stomach.

As of Tuesday, the lockup with 166 foreign prisoners disclosed that 106 of the captives were on hunger strike. Of them, 45 were designated for nasogastric feedings. Three were being fed at the prison hospital Tuesday, said Army Lt. Col. Samuel House, although none had “life threatening conditions.”

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http://www.stripes.com/news/us/guantanamo-prison-to-synchronize-force-feedings-to-ramadan-fast-1.228649

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