A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the military from force-feeding a Syrian prisoner on hunger striker at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, according to the Associated Press.
It was the first time a judge ordered a halt to force-feeding of a prisoner in Guantanamo, where last year during a hunger strike, as many as 46 of 166 inmates were force-fed at least some of their meals, with several inmates suing afterwards, the AP reported.
District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the government to stop force-feeding Abu Wa'el Dhiab until a hearing on May 21, according to the AP. She also ordered the military to stop extracting him from his cell if he refuses to go to feedings.
The judge said the government also must preserve all videotape evidence of forcible cell extractions and force-feeding until the hearing next Wednesday, the AP reported.
Human rights advocates and many doctors call force-feeding a violation of personal liberty and medical ethics, according to the AP. The procedure, designed to keep hunger strikers alive, involves feeding them liquid meals via tubes inserted into their noses and down into their stomachs.
Last July, Kessler, based in Washington D.C., denied Dhiab's request to halt the force-feeding, saying she would be overstepping her authority if she issued an injunction and adding that only President Barack Obama had the power to intervene, the AP reported.
Then, in February, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Guantanamo prisoners have the right to sue over force-feeding and that judges have the authority to consider petitions challenging aspects of how the military treats them, according to the AP.
"This is a major crack in Guantanamo's years-long effort to oppress prisoners and to exercise total control over information about the prison," one of Dhiab's attorneys, Cori Crider said, the AP reported. "I am glad Judge Kessler has taken this seriously, and we look forward to our full day in court to expose the appalling way Dhiab and others have been treated."
