Yasiin Bey’s force-feeding video shows the rapper formerly known as Mos Def (of “Black Star” fame) getting the treatment done to highlight the perceived abuses of prisoners the U.S.’s Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
Prisoners at the facility in Cuba--many of whom are Muslims--will not eat during the daytime to observe the holy month of Ramadan. The month begins today, but many prisoners have previously gone on hunger strikes.
Bey, who was clad in a prison jumpsuit and was handcuffed, voluntarily partook in the force-feeding and a video of the ordeal was released by activist group Reprieve. According to the video, more than 100 people are protesting against conditions at Guantanamo and have refused to eat.
In the procedure, a nasogastric tube is forced down into a person’s nose and into the stomach. Bey ultimately says that “he can’t do it” before people in the video stopped.
“I got this burning” sensation when the tube was forced into his nose, he recalled after the experience. He added that he felt that something was “going into his brain” and then down his throat.
Across the world, force feeding is considered a controversial practice--and sometimes torture--by human rights groups. In China, prisoners of consciousness--namely Falun Gong practitioners--are regularly force fed when they go on hunger strikes. Muslim Uyghurs are also unable to fast during Ramadan.
(Warning: video may be disturbing to some.)
