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Asif Kapadia and Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) Document Guantanamo Force-feeding Procedure
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) submits himself to the force feeding procedure hunger-striking Guantanamo Bay prisoners are currently undergoing twice a day in this painful short video by Senna director Asif Kapadia. As Ben Ferguson describes in The Guardian, the video was directed using the testimony of a hunger striker, Samir Mokbel, provided by the prisoners’ rights organization Reprieve:
There was no rehearsal: after all, no acting would be required. He swapped his black leather jacket, jeans and designer shoes for an orange jumpsuit. In an instant, he was no longer Mos Def – rapper and Hollywood star – but a powerless prisoner. Morrissey and I were to be the “guards”. We shackled his wrists and legs. Then we chained them tighter and tighter, to be sure he couldn’t get loose.
We were already oblivious to the cameras. The doctor lubricated the tubing and without warning began feeding it up Bey’s nose. He squirmed and spluttered. A second doctor held Bey’s face in place as he began to yell out. Morrissey adjusted his grip and locked his forearm around Bey’s brow. The fight continued and grew in intensity. Bey freed one arm and writhed so hard the tubes fell out.
By now the doctors were shaking. But there was a job to be done. I pinned down the loose arm so the “detainee” couldn’t interfere with the tubes while Morrissey pushed down on his chest in an attempt to give the doctors some space. They lubricated the tube once more and went in for a second attempt.
