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Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def) has stepped up to undergo force-feeding torture in an attempt to raise awareness of this abuse of human rights on Guantanamo Bay.
In collaboration with activist group Reprieve, who campaign against human rights abuses around the globe, Bey has worked with BAFTA-winning film director Asif Kapadia in an attempt to capture the brutality shown to the inmates of the prison.
In the video Bey appears and introduces himself formally, and is then shown in an orange prison suit being held down by a team of people while a syringe and feeding tube are prepared. The tube is inserted forcibly into his nose, and the food is piped in. Bey struggles against them, but true to the act of the video they treat him as a prisoner.
Watch a sample of the video below:
The video is an upsetting watch, tears stream down Bey's face as he is force fed and he shouts continually throughout until he can't take any more and they release him. The rapper then tells us what the experience was like, describing a 'burning' sensation, his face still wet from the tears.
Bey ends his role by announcing 'Good morning' to the viewer, presumably this is meant as a 'wake up' call to the world, that everyday people are suffering like the viewer has seen. Captions appear at the end informing us that the normal procedure would last for two hours, putting in context how little someone could take voluntarily.
The video serves its purpose of reminding people of the horrors of Guantanamo Bay, especially as another year goes by and innocent people like UK citizen Shaker Amer are still unjustly held captive. With Bey's celebrity status one hopes that this will get the attention it requires.
The full video can be found here.
