Mos Def is force-fed during Gitmo human-rights protest

NEW YORK, July 9 (UPI) -- Rapper and actor Mos Def allowed himself to be force-fed to spotlight the treatment of hunger strikers at the U.S. military lockup in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The New York Daily News said the Brooklyn-born artist, who is also known by the name Yasiin Bey, joined with the human-rights group Reprieve to demonstrate what the hunger strikers are enduring.

The demonstration, which shows the 39-year-old performer restrained with a feeding tube inserted up his nose, had been viewed nearly 400,000 times from the time it was posted by The Guardian newspaper on YouTube Monday until Tuesday morning.

"This is me. Please stop. I can't do it," the Daily News quoted Bey as pleading through tears after the tube comes out and is about to be replaced. The person administering the feeding tube complies with his request.

The Daily News said 45 of the 106 participants in the Guantanamo Bay hunger strike are being fed this way due to weight loss. The detainees have been protesting since February the handling of their Korans during prison cell searches.

The newspaper said the Pentagon has insisted the force-feeding practice is humane and necessary for the detainees' survival, while human-rights activists have categorized it as torture.