Ron DeSantis Watched My Torture at Guantánamo, Says Former Prisoner

As Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to run for president in 2024, his time at Guantánamo is coming beneath scrutiny. Previous to getting into politics, DeSantis served within the Navy as an legal professional, first on the U.S. jail on the Guantánamo Bay jail in Cuba and later in Iraq. Former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi says DeSantis personally witnessed him being force-fed and tortured, and different prisoners have backed up Adayfi’s account. He joins us from his house in Belgrade for his first tv interview about DeSantis’s position at Guantánamo. “Whereas I used to be screaming, yelling as a result of I couldn’t breathe … he was truly laughing, trying on the different officers and smiling,” Adayfi says of DeSantis. “He wasn’t concerned instantly within the force-feeding. I didn’t see him give any orders to the guards. However he was there, supervising, watching.” Adayfi was imprisoned with out cost for 14 years and 7 months earlier than being launched in 2016 to Serbia. In 2021, he printed a memoir titled Don’t Neglect Us Right here: Misplaced and Discovered at Guantánamo.

TRANSCRIPT

It is a rush transcript. Copy is probably not in its last kind.

AMY GOODMAN: That is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Battle and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

As former president and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump prepares to be arrested in New York on Tuesday, we flip now to take a look at a rising controversy about one in all Trump’s doubtless presidential opponents. That’s Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, extensively anticipated to hunt the Republican nomination for president.

Previous to getting into politics, DeSantis served within the Navy as an legal professional on the U.S. jail at Guantánamo and in Fallujah, Iraq. DeSantis’s time at Guantánamo is coming beneath scrutiny after a former prisoner, named Mansoor Adayfi, revealed that DeSantis had personally witnessed him being force-fed and tortured. Different prisoners have backed up Adayfi’s account. Final month, DeSantis denied authorizing force-feeding at Guantánamo.

PIERS MORGAN: The Washington Put up did an enormous deep dive on this at the moment, truly, about what you probably did on the market. One of many issues they stated was that you simply licensed the usage of force-feeding, that any individual —

GOV. RON DESANTIS: That’s not true. Yeah, that’s not true. Yeah. Any of the stuff that folks have —

PIERS MORGAN: Simply to complete —

GOV. RON DESANTIS: OK.

PIERS MORGAN: Drive-feeding the detainees who have been on starvation strike. Was that true?

GOV. RON DESANTIS: So, I used to be a — I used to be a junior officer. I didn’t have authority to authorize something. There might have been a commander that may have finished feeding if somebody was going to die. However that was not one thing that I’d have even had authority to do.

PIERS MORGAN: So, that’s mistaken?

GOV. RON DESANTIS: Yeah, yeah, completely.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Ron DeSantis final month in an interview with Piers Morgan. However in an interview 5 years in the past, in 2018, DeSantis admitted to CBS Miami that he had licensed force-feeding.

REP. RON DESANTIS: I used to be a authorized adviser.

JIM DEFEDE: For people who have been doing —

REP. RON DESANTIS: The issues that may occur is — the factor you discover the day you get down there’s, for these detainees, the jihad was nonetheless ongoing.

JIM DEFEDE: Proper.

REP. RON DESANTIS: And they might wage jihad any manner they’ll. Now, they’re in a facility, so it’s restricted. However among the issues they’d do, they’d do starvation strikes. And also you truly had three detainees that dedicated suicide with starvation strikes. So, the whole lot at the moment was authorized in nature a method or one other. So, the commander desires to know, “Properly, how do I fight this?” So one of many jobs of the authorized adviser is to be like, “Hey, you truly can force-feed. Right here’s what you are able to do. Right here’s sort of the principles of that.”

AMY GOODMAN: That was Ron DeSantis in 2018 as he was working for governor in Florida.

Properly, with DeSantis anticipated to quickly launch a run for the White Home, we’re joined by former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi. On the age of 18, he left his house in Yemen to do analysis in Afghanistan. Shortly earlier than he was scheduled to return house, he was kidnapped by Afghan warlords and bought to the CIA after the September eleventh assaults. He was jailed and tortured in Afghanistan, then transported to the U.S. navy jail at Guantánamo in 2002, the place he was held with out cost for 14 years, a lot of these years in solitary confinement. Mansoor Adayfi now joins us from his house in Belgrade, [Serbia]. In 2021, he printed a memoir titled Don’t Neglect Us Right here: Misplaced and Discovered at Guantánamo.

Mansoor Adayfi, welcome again to Democracy Now!

MANSOOR ADAYFI: Hello, Amy. Good to see you once more. Good morning, America.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s nice to have you ever with us. You’re truly chatting with the world proper now at democracynow.org. You have been Detainee 441. Clarify your connection to the present Florida governor, DeSantis.

MANSOOR ADAYFI: Yeah, that’s again to 2006. As you realize, like — let me give a short introduction to why we went on starvation strike within the first place. As you realize, we have been transferred to Guantánamo, spent years with out — with none form — like, till now, with out sort of, like, expenses or rights and so forth. By the tip of 2002, Basic Geoffrey Miller arrived, and he turned the Guantánamo right into a experimenting lab. And the state of affairs received solely worse each month and yearly.

By 2005, we managed to prepare like a mass starvation strike, that embarrassed the U.S. authorities. The camp administration at the moment tried to barter with us to cease the starvation strike to allow them to enhance the residing situation within the camp. We agreed. However it was simply they have been shopping for time.

By the start of 2006, a brand new medical group, a brand new camp workers arrived. Certainly one of them was a younger — a younger, good-looking officer, who got here to speak to us and advised us he was there to make sure that we have been being handled humanely. And we talked to him about why we have been on starvation strike, what have been our calls for. It wasn’t jihad, as he stated, like. And, you realize, what individuals at all times attempt to flip our actions in Guantánamo as like in jihad or al-Qaeda activist cell, that what used to inform us on a regular basis. So, these have been our calls for. Cease the torture. We have been asking for them to enhance the residing situation within the camp. And he was speaking to us and guaranteed us that the whole lot will change, and he’ll make it possible for we be handled humanely.

Solely two months, solely like, I believe, even much less, solely even much less two months later, we have been dragged to dam — solitary confinement, completely different camp, completely different blocks. A brand new medical group arrived, they usually begin forcing feed us. And I’m [inaudible] no drawback with the force-feeding. They used the force-feeding as a imply of torture. You recognize, I used to be taken to a nonformal block in Camp 2. I used to be tied to a force-feeding chair. Like, I couldn’t transfer in any respect. I might solely breathe. Guards carry piles of Guarantee. They usually began with the nurses pouring can of Guarantee one after one other, like the one manner such as you eat.

So, through the feeding, a bunch of officers arrived with the interpreters, with the interrogators, camp workers, medical workers. They have been behind the fence. And I noticed one in all them was Ron DeSantis in a navy uniform. And he was — whereas I used to be screaming, yelling, as a result of I couldn’t breathe, of the Guarantee, and was like — I used to be bleeding, as a result of they actually insert the thick tube by my nostril. So, I used to be, like, calling them, asking, and he was truly laughing, trying on the different officers, and smiling. So, that is my first encounter — second encounter with the Ron DeSantis. The primary, earlier than the force-feeding, he got here to speak to us and different prisoners. Second time I noticed him like twice whereas on the force-feeding.

And I wish to spotlight actually necessary issues right here. He was there — he wasn’t there, like, to provide orders. He wasn’t concerned instantly within the force-feeding. I didn’t see him give any orders to the guards. However he was there, like, supervising, watching. After I requested different prisoners who have been additionally within the force-feeding in the event that they noticed him, they stated sure. Certainly one of them, no less than he advised me — he despatched me a message. He stated he was there, too.

AMY GOODMAN: Mansoor, we’re additionally exhibiting photographs of your outstanding paintings, your drawing of being force-fed, as you communicate. However I wished to show proper now to a different former Guantánamo prisoner, who Democracy Now! reached final week, Ahmed Ould Abdel Aziz, who additionally remembers Ron DeSantis at Guantánamo. He spoke to us from Mauritania.

AHMED OULD ABDEL AZIZ: DeSantis, he was there, that particular person known as DeSantis, as a result of we didn’t acknowledge his title till we noticed him within the media, after which we heard about he’s now working within the Congress, a guard who was working, you realize, a really very long time in the past. For us, he’s a guard, you realize. For the federal government, he’s a lawyer, and he got here there. However he’s doing the identical factor as a guard, as a result of he was sided — he was siding with the guards. He was siding with the administration there. He was a part of that. He was a hyperlink of that chain, a sequence of involvers, individuals who have been concerned with the injustices, wrongdoing and mistreatment of detainees, placing individuals and detainees in degrading circumstances, degrading locales, as a result of many of those blocks weren’t appropriate for animals, not, say, about people.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s former Guantánamo prisoner Ahmed Ould Abdel Aziz, talking from Mauritania. He was launched in 2015. And, Mansoor, you additionally contacted former Guantánamo prisoners by way of WhatsApp to see in the event that they remembered Ron DeSantis. For our TV viewers, we’re exhibiting the screenshot of one of many individuals who responded to you, who wished to stay nameless. His message says, in translation, quote, “Sure, I keep in mind him. He was in detention with a bunch of officers who damage and tortured us quite a bit. Might Allah publish all of them.” I assume it means “Might Allah punish all of them.” Are you able to discuss additional about how the force-feeding felt, and if there have been any guards who have been doing this to you, or the individuals — you possibly can inform us who they have been — who have been placing in these tubes, who objected?

MANSOOR ADAYFI: You recognize, there’s a distinction between the force-feeding and utilizing the force-feeding as a imply of torture. I spent years on force-feeding. Different, some prisoners spent between two to fifteen years on force-feeding every day. We get like — normally, we get like twice a day, within the morning, within the afternoon or night time. Additionally, throughout Ramadan, they may do it like after sundown. You recognize, there was, like, medical professionals. There have been, like, nurses, docs.

However in 2006 — and when you go to — if readers go to my ebook, I discuss notably about what occurred in 2006 was one of many worst years in Guantánamo, the place DeSantis was there. They begin punishing — they began by punishing prisoners in Camp 5. Then they tortured the starvation strikers by force-feeding. Additionally, Camp 4, a medium-security camp, was raided, and detainees have been shot and hospitalized. Three detainees died this yr. Then, by the tip of 2006, a brand new camp was opened, like Camp 6.

So, in 2006, when Ron DeSantis was there through the torture by the force-feeding, they actually introduced thick tubes, known as 18 French or 25 French, with the steel tip, they usually simply push it in our nostril. Guards used to try this, too, as a result of guards and camp workers — and medical workers, sorry, have been there doing the force-feeding. I received fed 5 occasions a day. They left me all night time on the force-feeding chair. They usually give us some sort of laxative liquid within the vitamin liquid. So, whereas sitting on the force-feeding chair, we might [bleep] on ourselves, they usually left us like that. After they moved us to solitary confinement once more, they left us solely with shorts, actually chilly cell. And the second day, they’d begin once more, like go away us for hours. We couldn’t final, some, for 3 days, 5 days, and we needed to cease.

So, the Guarantee, they introduced, like, bins, 5 bins or extra, and the force-feeding bag, what they simply pour in soup can, Guarantee, one after one other, I felt I used to be actually drowning. On one of many force-feeding, after I was, like, throwing up, sure, Ron DeSantis was there behind the fence, and camp officers, they have been behind the fence wen I used to be throwing up. The Guarantee was an excessive amount of in my abdomen, so I threw at them. They usually jumped again. They have been cleansing themselves, taking a look at me. So I felt I did one thing no less than, you realize, value it. So, on one of many force-feeding, whereas I used to be throwing up, the tube actually got here out from my mouth. I keep in mind the nurse grabbed the tube and was like, “Begin to eat. It’s a must to begin to eat.” So, that lasted for me for 5 days, and I had no selection. Like, I couldn’t final. Both I die or cease the starvation strike. And we stopped.

I used to be force-fed once more in 2009, 2013, different, however that point they did it professionally, and we had no drawback. We might cooperate, cooperated with them. The one time that force-feeding was used as torture in 2006. There was additionally one other years the place some medical groups, they may attempt to stress us, you realize, like, by — to cease the starvation strike, however not as unhealthy as in 2006.

AMY GOODMAN: In 2006, legal professionals for an additional prisoner argued that the navy made the force-feeding course of unnecessarily painful and humiliating to interrupt the starvation strike. On the time, one thing like 100 of the prisoners have been on starvation strike. I wished to ask you why you suppose that Ron DeSantis, now the governor of Florida, has hardly talked about his time, his expertise at Guantánamo in his new ebook, The Braveness to Be Free, and likewise ask you about his time in Fallujah, which may be very fascinating, going again to Iraq. You could have — he arrived in 2007, proper after he was at Guantánamo, through the surge. In keeping with the Tampa Bay Occasions, DeSantis served as a senior authorized adviser to the SEAL who commanded Particular Operations Job Drive-West in Fallujah, Navy Captain Dane Thorleifson. Discuss in regards to the legacy of Fallujah.

MANSOOR ADAYFI: Initially, he didn’t point out a lot about his time in Guantánamo, as a result of we knew he was a part of JTF and he was a authorized adviser. And when you ask me, I believe DeSantis is a merciless particular person. I consider that his mission there was a cover-up, to cowl up what occurred in 2006.

So, about Fallujah, I don’t suppose I’m ready to touch upon his time there, however for what I’ve learn and seen, that — everyone knows what occurred in Fallujah, like loss of life of civilians, utilizing depleted uranium and so forth. So, I wish to say one phrase to People: Simply be careful from that particular person. You recognize, he’s somebody who bend the reality to serve his personal political curiosity.

AMY GOODMAN: Mansoor, we’re going to do a second a part of this interview and submit it at democracynow.org. You simply wrote a “Remark Is Free” op-ed piece in The Guardian a couple of Biden administration determination across the paintings of the Guantánamo prisoners, and we’re going to speak about that and likewise present extra of your photographs that you simply drew whereas in Guantánamo. Sure, Mansoor Adayfi is a former Guantánamo prisoner, Detainee 441, imprisoned with out cost for 14 years and 7 months, earlier than being launched in 2016 to Serbia. We spoke to him in Belgrade. His memoir is titled Don’t Neglect Us Right here: Misplaced and Discovered at Guantánamo.

That does it for our present. Democracy Now! at the moment accepting functions for a digital fellow. Go to democracynow.org for extra data. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us.