For First Time, US Judge Orders Government to Release Videotapes of Force-Feeding to Guantánamo Prisoner’s Lawyers

Yesterday, for the first time in Guantánamo’s long and ignoble history, a federal court judge ordered the US government to hand over videotapes recording a prisoner being forcibly dragged from his cell by a riot team, and then being force-fed.

The prisoner in question, Abu Wa’el Dhiab, is a Syrian, cleared for release from the prison in 2009 by President Obama’s high-level, inter-agency Guantánamo Review Task Force, along with 74 other men who are still held. In despair at ever being released, because of Congressional obstructions and President Obama’s unwillingness to bypass Congress, even though a waiver in the legislation allowed him to do so, Mr. Dhiab was one of the many prisoners who embarked on a prison-wide hunger strike last year, and was soon subjected to force-feeding, a horribly painful process condemned by medical professionals.

Last Friday, Abu Wa’el Dhiab secured a momentous victory when District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the government to stop force-feeding him and to stop him being subjected to “forcible cell extractions,” and also ordered the government to preserve all videotapes recording his “forcible cell extractions” and his force-feeding. The motion on behalf of Abu Wa’el Dhiab only came about when one of his lawyers, Jon B. Eisenberg, found out through persistent questioning of a Justice Department official that the videotapes existed, and, with his fellow lawyers at the legal action charity Reprieve, submitted an emergency motion.

Last Friday, Judge Kessler scheduled another hearing for yesterday (May 21) to give the government  time to say when it would be able to turn over Mr. Dhiab’s medical records and the videotapes.

As the Guardian described it, the US government “conceded that there are 34 videos showing the forcible feeding” of Abu Wa’el Dhiab,” adding, “The analogue video cassettes are part of a broader set of 136 videos showing Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell by Guantánamo Bay guards bringing the hunger striker to be fed enterally.”

Judge Kessler ordered these 34 videotapes to be handed over, although, as the Guardian noted, she “did not order the tapes to be released to the public.” Instead, the government “will have to transfer the classified tapes from Guantánamo to a secured facility in the Washington D.C. area for his lawyers to view, after faces and other identifying information of Guantánamo personnel and facilities are censored.”

The Guardian added that the tapes of Dhiab’s feedings “are said to range between 15 minutes to half an hour each, suggesting the government possesses at least eight hours of footage of just one detainee enteral feeding.” They are also “said to be in a microcassette format,” and, as the Guardian described it, Jon B. Eisenberg “said they would have to be digitized for viewing, owing to formatting difficulties impacting declassified playback.” Eisenberg quipped, “Pretend it’s 1955, that’s where the technology is.”

Judge Kessler also ordered the government to produce Mr. Dhiab’s medical records. As Reprieve noted, “These records should allow the court to make a proper assessment of the traumatic impact of force-feeding on Mr. Dhiab’s declining health.” Importantly, as Reprieve also noted, “For the time being, the existing injunction remains in place,” meaning that Mr. Dhiab cannot be force-fed or subjected to “forcible cell extractions.”

No wonder, then, that two other hunger strikers, Emad Hassan and Ahmad Rabbani, submitted motions this week asking for the videotapes of their force-feeding to be preserved.

It is to be hoped that many more prisoners now embark on this course of action, and that the embarrassment of dealing with the repercussions of these disgraceful policies at Guantánamo persuades President Obama to take decisive action — in the first instance, by releasing the men who are cleared for release, like Mr. Dhiab, as soon as possible.

In his case, the irony is that he is one of six prisoners who have already been offered a new home in Uruguay by President Mujica, an offer that President Obama should accept without further delay.

Responding to Judge Kessler’s ruling yesterday, Cori Crider, Reprieve’s Strategic Director, said, “Mr. Dhiab has been cleared for transfer from Guantánamo Bay for several years now, and yet promises of his imminent release have come to nothing, so it is not surprising that he has gone on a peaceful hunger strike in desperation. It is very encouraging that the rule of law is finally coming to Guantánamo, so that perhaps Mr. Dhiab’s situation can be resolved. While the photographic evidence of his abuse is secret, it will at least allow the judge to see what is happening to him.”

Further revelations about Abu Wa’el Dhiab’s treatment – in April, and threats following last Friday’s ruling

The day before Judge Kessler ordered the government to hand over the videotapes to Mr. Dhiab’s lawyers, Cori Crider and Cortney Busch of Reprieve submitted two additional declarations providing further information about their client.

Cortney Busch, Reprieve’s Operations Manager, received her declassified notes from a visit on April 30, when she found Mr. Dhiab “very thin” and  looking unwell. He told her that he had resumed his hunger strike “because of the delay in releasing him.”

Mr. Dhiab also explained how the staff responsible for force-feeding the prisoners were involved in what he described as “a ‘vicious’ policy of permitting the detainees’ weight to yo-yo: over-feeding prisoners to the point of discomfort, suddenly ceasing the feeding, then resuming feedings if a prisoner loses consciousness on the block.” This, he noted accurately, was “even more unpleasant and dangerous than a consistent regime of feedings.”

Mr. Dhiab also explained how Ahmad Rabbani, one of the two men who followed his success in court last Friday with their own court submissions this week, had been the victim of “very disturbing force-feeding practices,” through which he “had developed a bad chest infection and had been vomiting blood.”

In the second submission, Cori Crider, Reprieve’s Strategic Director, explained how, in a call with Mr. Dhiab following his court victory last Friday, he stated that, within hours of the ruling, he had been threatened with a “forcible cell extraction” by  an army sergeant, and further explained that he was fearful of the riot squad that administers the FCEs (the ERF team, generally understood to mean the “Emergency Response Force” or the “Emergency Reaction Force,” although the prisoners refer to it as the “Extreme Reaction Force”).

Crucially, Mr. Dhiab also explained how the videotapes of the “forcible cell extractions and the force-feeding may well not include the worst treatment, as the filming is selective rather than consistent.

In conclusion, Cori Crider noted that he “made a simple plea for good sense,” stating, “All I want is to get out of this place. For how much longer will I have to be in this situation? The suffering, the torture, being away from my kids and my family? How much longer will I be here?” He added, “Five years ago, Obama said he was going to close this place and let the cleared people out. Meanwhile I have lost much of my life here, as well as my loved ones. Why are they doing this to us? I have no problem with America. For how long are they going to make me suffer?”

These are powerful words on the eve of the global day of action tomorrow (May 23), when, throughout the US and around the world, people will be calling for the closure of Guantánamo. To ask President Obama to release Abu Wa’el Dhiab and all the other cleared prisoners (77 in total), please call the White House on 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414. You can also submit a comment online.

Cortney Busch’s declaration, May 20, 2014

1. I am the Operations Manager and a security-cleared paralegal with legal action charity Reprieve. I have been visiting Reprieve’s clients in Guantánamo since August 2010.

2. I make this declaration based on my most recent visit with the Petitioner on 30 April 2014; I received the cleared notes from that visit today.

3. The following description is drawn directly from this visit. Quotations represent my best reconstruction of what Mr. Dhiab said, although they are not verbatim.

4. Mr. Dhiab was very thin when I saw him and looked unwell. He stated that he had not been out for recreation or even a shower for nearly seven months.

5. He reported that he had resumed hunger striking because of the delay in releasing him. He had suspended his strike for a brief period when it appeared to him that release might be imminent, but said he found the continuing limbo too difficult to bear: “All I want to know is my situation. Am I going to leave or not?” He mentioned previous instances when he had been told he would be released and, in the event, was not.

6. Mr. Dhiab is suffering considerable health complications apparently as a result of his previous long-term under striking and force-feeding, to include serious pain in his kidneys and blood in his urine.

7. He also states that the ‘Forcible Cell Extraction’ (FCE) team have continued to assault him for ‘movements’ without reason or provocation, and continued to do so even after the temporary suspension of his hunger strike.

8. He also reported what he described as a ‘vicious’ policy of permitting the detainees’ weight to yo-yo: over-feeding prisoners to the point of discomfort, suddenly ceasing the feeding, then resuming feedings if a prisoner loses consciousness on the block. This, he says, is even more unpleasant and dangerous than a consistent regime of feedings.

Other prisoners

9. Mr. Dhiab also mentioned very disturbing force-feeding practices for another petitioner, Ahmed Rabbani. Mr. Dhiab reported that the day before our visit (that is, on April 29, 2014) another detainee, Ahmed Rabbani (ISN 1461) started to bleed immediately when JTF-GTMO medical staff tried to intubate him, and that they tried to do so three times but were ultimately unsuccessful. This led to extremely painful swelling in his nose and throat. As a result of the feeding tube being incorrectly inserted, Mr. Rabbani had developed a bad chest infection and had been vomiting blood over the previous few days.

10. Mr. Dhiab said Mr. Rabbani was regularly being ‘FCE’d’ to be force-fed, and that last Sunday he was vomiting blood. he believes this will have been caught on camera because Mr. Rabbani had vomited blood on himself as the FCE team came to take him to the force feeding chair. Mr. Rabbani then lost consciousness.

11. He compared the current situation facing hunger strikers unfavourably with some aspects of feeding during the Bush administration. Under Bush, he remembered, if you bled during the force-feeding, the process would typically be suspended for three days and then resumed. He also mentioned that one of the doctors at JTF-GTMO brought some sort of ‘form’ for Mr. Rabbani for his signature. He did not know the precise language of the form Mr. Rabbani was asked to sign, but the import of it was, in essence, “we will not force-feed you if you refuse, but if you die you release us of responsibility.” Mr. Dhiab did not know if Mr. Rabbani signed the form.

Cori Crider’s declaration, May 20, 2014

1. This is a supplemental declaration regarding my call with Petitioner on May 19, 2014. Quotations represent my best reconstruction of what the client said but are not verbatim. In the compressed time available I have been unable to confirm every detail of the following account with Petitioner, but I believe these notes to be an accurate reflection of our call.

Resumption of strike and threatened force-feeding

2. Mr. Dhiab has resumed hunger striking. He said that last week between Tuesday and Thursday (May 13-15, 2014), JTF-GTMO medical staff — both doctors and nurses — approached him in his cell and said that if he did not begin to consume nutrients he would once again be force-fed.

3. He described great pain, saying “I could barely sleep for the pain in my kidneys.”

4. Medical staff also told him that, if he refused to eat, the ‘Forcible Cell Extraction’ (FCE) team would be deployed to take him to feedings.

5. He said one of the nurses was very explicit about the consequences of refusing nutrition: “She told me you have one of two options. Either you eat, or we are going to send you to force-feeding through the FCE.” Mr. Dhiab did not know her rank, but indicated the nurse was an African-American woman of average height, working the night shift last week.

6. On Friday, he said the medical staff did not approach him.

Threatened Forcible Cell Extraction on Friday

7. Petitioner observed that there has recently been overuse of the FCE team: “Now they have started to FCE a lot of people. They seem to be hauling people from their cells for any minor reason. One such trivial reason would be, for example, to inspect the room.”

8. Petitioner indicated he had not been moved by the FCE team since Friday. But he added that on Friday night, after the final prayer of the day but before midnight, an army sergeant came to his cell to harass and intimidate him about a possible FCE.

9. Petitioner recounted the following exchange with the sergeant:

The sergeant came to my cell and asked “Why are you refusing to eat? Do you wanna eat by the FCE?”
“I don’t care,” I said.
He said “Okay, see you during the FCE time.”
“Are you from the ERF team?” I asked.
“I am in charge of the team,” he said.

10. Petitioner also indicated that this individual was ‘working’ with the FCE team that evening and would not have come to his cell as part of the ordinary block police patrol or some other routine visit. Petitioner could discern no other purpose to the sergeant’s visit to his cell than to deliver this threat.

11. Petitioner estimates that this man was between 37 and 40, African- American, tall and of medium build. “I have seen him before, and usually we have a good relationship,” he said. When I asked whether he was then surprised that this person had seemingly made a special effort to approach and harass him, he said he was not, and that sad to say, “people change on you from one day to the next here.”

12. Petitioner was very intimidated by this soldier’s threat to use the team, largely because of past experience:

The ERF team hurt you all the time. I especially remember they badly hurt my rib in the past — once in 2009, and another time this year. I have had great pain in both the left and right sides of my chest because of this. It also seems like every time they ERF me and give me a blood test they find blood in my urine. I have severe pain in my lower back/thigh and also in my neck, I believe all from the ERF. I have continuous pain in the head.

“After the torture I have been through many times,” he said, “I have sometimes wished to die because of them.”

Videos

13. Petitioner described the videotaping of FCEs as incomplete and manipulated by Respondents.

14. “They video you when they force you onto the chair and when they pull you off the chair,” he said, “but they do not always do it during feedings.”

15. He said that on several occasions he has requested for the camera to be switched on, to no avail: “When they torture me on the chair, I tell them ‘you should videotape this,’ but at that point they refuse to run the tape. Then, when I start to resist because I am in so much pain, they turn the camera on.”

16. He has particularly tried to persuade them to film during especially painful intubation sessions:

When they [the FCE team] push me in the chair, they then hold each of my limb: one on each arm, one on each leg, and another on the head. Sometimes the way the MP holds the head chokes me, and with all the nerves in the nose the tube passing the nose is like torture. Then, especially when the MP is holding the neck, when they try to force the tube through the throat it often catches and they cannot push it through. At times like these, I ask them to videotape. And they refuse.

17. Then, he said, once the pain has reached a point where he cannot tolerate it and begins to move in response, filming typically starts:

But then, of course, the pain makes you move around. I move my head when they poke me with the tube. I can’t help it. It hurts too much. Then they hold my head, and it only gets worse. After that I start to resist because I have severe pain in my throat. In this moment the head ERF guy shouts ‘DON’T RESIST! DON’T RESIST!’ And then they start taping.

The same thing happens at the end of the feeding: when they move me off the chair and they put pressure on my back and kidneys, I tell them ‘I have pain! I am suffering!’ So after a point, to relieve the suffering, I try to resist, and again they shout ‘Don’t resist!’ and again they start the tape. I don’t want to fight, but I am in such pain.

Many times I have said to them “you are not dealing with a stone, you are dealing with a human being. Why not deal with me like a human being, not a block?”

If I wanted to resist them from the start, I would have resisted when they entered my cell, when I was not chained, not later, when I am just in incredible pain and can only think of doing anything to stop it.

18. He also tries to persuade the FCE team to stop hurting him first:

I try to tell them about my pain before I resist — of course I hope they will avoid hurting me. I tell them they are putting pressure on my back, my kidney and my neck and I am suffering. Several times I have tried to tell them I was in pain but they just kept doing it, and after a point I am in such pain I have no choice but to resist.

19. In general Petitioner was emphatic that, however bad the footage of his FCEs and force-feedings ultimately appears, the unfilmed periods are in truth far worse:

From the time they enter the room to the time they get me off the chair to the time they chain me to the chair, anyone should be smart enough to recognize that there are periods with no videotaping. Why is this?

Sometimes the MPs block the camera so that all you see is not me, suffering, but the soldiers blocking the camera with their bodies.

Other really painful things will not be caught on camera. Many times in the chair they squeeze my leg. The camera can’t really show their squeezing of the leg. When I scream from pain, I start to move, and they say ‘he’s going to resist’, and they start to yell ‘STOP RESISTING! STOP RESISTING!’

When the soldiers touch me I tell them I have a damaged rib. The camera will not capture the pressure on my rib that makes me scream and move. They purposely make you feel pain. When I feel pain I shift, and when I move, they say ‘you are resisting’, and the whole ordeal begins again. Many times when I warn them not to put pressure on my rib or my kidney they only do it more.

When I complain they say ‘we are protecting your life, we are protecting your health’. What kind of concern about my life and health is this, if they put me through such pain I am unable to sleep? I am peacefully demonstrating. Why are you torturing me? I did not resist you to begin with.

20. “I feel as if I die several times a day,” he added.

21. Towards the end of the call he made a simple plea for good sense:

All I want is to get out of this place. For how much longer will I have to be in this situation? The suffering, the torture, being away from my kids and my family? How much longer will I be here?

Five years ago, Obama said he was going to close this place and let the cleared people out. Meanwhile I have lost much of my life here, as well as my loved ones. Why are they doing this to us? I have no problem with America. For how long are they going to make me suffer?

Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer and film-maker. He is the co-founder of the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here — or here for the US).

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