Doctors who assist in the force-feeding of hunger-striking detainees at Guantanamo Bay were accused last week of acting unethically, despite a government review that concluded prisoners are well cared for.
Force-feeding has been used to combat hunger strikes by detainees at the US base since 2005, when over 80 inmates staged the first such protest. Hundreds of strikers have been put in restraint chairs, which have binds for ankles, wrists and shoulders, together with a lap belt and head restraint. They are then fed through a tube inserted into their nose.
Those actions constitute 鈥渉umiliating and degrading treatment鈥�, which is outlawed by the Geneva conventions, argue of the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, and of Boston University.
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Human rights activists had hoped President Barack Obama might halt what they claim to be abuses at the base, but a panel commissioned by Obama concluded in February that the detainees received a 鈥渉igh quality of care鈥� and that Geneva conventions were not being breached. The panel was led by US Admiral Patrick Walsh, vice chief of naval operations.
However, Annas points out that the panel did not include any independent study of individual inmates鈥� physical or mental health. 鈥淭his is the main problem,鈥� he says.
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