Judge rules in favor of government over Gitmo force-feeding appeal

A federal judge has ruled in favor of the US government in the first legal challenge to controversial force-feeding practices at Guantanamo Bay. But in a written opinion, the government was criticized for failing to show due "common sense and compassion" over its handling of a “sick, depressed and desperate” detainee. Moreover, the judge intimated that the inmate should be released “very soon.”

Syrian Abu Wa’el Dhiab’s had applied for an injunction to prevent aspects of his force-feeding, including forcible cell extractions, denial of a wheelchair and the twice-daily nasal tube insertions of detainees before they are at imminent risk of death.

It formed part of a long-running legal battle waged by Dhiab’s attorneys over the12-year incarceration of their client, who was cleared for release in 2009.

But in a ruling delivered Friday, Gladys Kessler, a federal judge in Washington DC, said the petitioner had narrowed his requests significantly and that he now agrees to comply to be force-feed under certain conditions. Meanwhile the US government had taken “several positive actions” in regards his requests, notably agreeing to provide Dhiab with a wheelchair and refraining from forcible cell extractions if the detainee walks to the wheelchair. As such “many of the significant requests …were no longer subject to disagreement,” Kessler noted.

She also held that there was insufficient evidence demonstrating deliberate indifference on the part of the government in regards to outstanding requests.

But having made the ruling, Kessler went on to criticize the government for its mistreatment of Dhiab.

"It is very hard to understand why the Government refused to give Mr. Dhiab access to the wheelchair and/or crutches that he needed in order to walk to the room for enteral feedings. Had that simple step been taken, numerous painful and humiliating forced cell extractions could have been avoided," she said in Friday's ruling.

Noting that the government had only recently allowed Dhiab use of the wheelchair, Kessler noted: “common sense and compassion should have dictated a much earlier result.”

She also suggested that Dhiab was unreasonably denied an additional mattress to relieve his back pain. “Mr Dhiab is clearly a very sick, depressed and desperate man,” she wrote, adding: “He has been cleared for release since 2009 and one can only hope that the release will take place shortly.”

Dhiab's case marked the first time that a federal judge has heard testimony about conditions at Guantanamo since prisoners first arrived there nearly 13 years ago.

Alka Pradhan, an attorney for Dhiab at the UK-based rights group Reprieve, said: “While we respectfully disagree with the decision, Mr Dhiab’s case has given us a deeper look at Guantanamo than ever before, including medical malpractice and egregious cruelty by the government which Judge Kessler highlights in her decision.”

Friday's ruling did not affect Kessler's previous order for the government to release videotapes of Dhiab's treatment. The government has until November 17 to either prepare the tapes for release or appeal the order.

Last year, Kessler declined to rule on Dhiab's case saying she lacked the authority to preside over the case due to a congressional law that prohibited judges from making decisions over the treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.

A federal appeals court handed the case back to her in February, holding that judges have the authority "to oversee complaints by detainees about the conditions of their confinement at the military prison."