A U.S. judge has ordered the release of 28 videos showing the forced feeding of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who went on a hunger strike last year, ruling the First Amendment overrides the government's argument that unsealing the videos would be a threat to national security.
Most of the Obama administration's arguments against the release "are unacceptably vague, speculative, lack specificity or are just plain implausible," United States Court for the District of Columbia Judge Gladys Kessler wrote in her 28-page opinion obtained by The New York Times.
The case was brought last year when several prisoners at the Cuba-based U.S. military prison went on hunger strike. Not wanting the prisoners to die, President Barack Obama backed the force feeding, which involves a prisoner being restrained and having a tube forced up the nose to allow a nutritional supplement to enter the stomach.
One detainee who was force-fed, Syrian native Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab, requested the courts ban the military from pursuing the painful practice. Diyab has been held at the prison for 12 years without a trial, as is the case with most of the other detainees.
But in July 2013 Kessler ruled that while force feeding is inhumane, she did not have the authority to stop the military from doing it, The NY Times reported.
The case made its way to an appellate court, which ruled the courts did in fact have the right to hear challenges about how detainees are treated. By May of this year, headlines exploded with news of the force-feeding when a court motion was filed ordering the government preserve the tapes.
"I want Americans to see what is going on at the prison today so they will understand why we are hunger-striking and why the prison should be closed," Diyab stated in a previous court filing, according to the newspaper.
In the meantime, the Justice Department maintains releasing the videos would pose a "serious" security threat, according to Kessler's opinion. The judge granted the military permission to block out the faces of guards and medical staff and alter their voices before the tapes are released.
It is not clear when the videos will be unsealed, the newspaper reported.
There is a chance the Justice Department may appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia."
"We are reviewing the decision and considering our options," said Justice Department spokeswoman Nicole Navas.
