C4 tortures volunteers on mock Guantanamo Bay show

[1vegan]

http://www.brandrepublic.com/mediabu...gin=MB09022005

C4 tortures volunteers on mock Guantanamo Bay show

Guantamo Bay: C4 to replicate camp torture
Sam Matthews, Brand Republic 08:45 09-02-2005

LONDON – Channel 4's latest foray into reality TV 'Guantanamo Guidebook' will recreate the harrowing treatment dealt out to Islamic terrorist detainees at the US Guantanamo naval base in Cuba.

The show's producers have managed to sign up seven volunteers, all ordinary members of British public who "want to see how hard they are", to test the torture methods.

In an echo of the BBC's 'SAS: Are You Tough Enough', the Channel 4 show uses what it claims are well-documented torture methods at the camp including sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and religious baiting.

Presented by Jon Snow, 'The Guantanamo Guidebook' looks at how they stand up to what Channel 4 describes as "torture-lite".

The volunteers were detained in a warehouse with cages for 48 hours to undergo the experiment. Two volunteers were sick during their "stay" and one walked out after just seven hours.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: "The Bush administration argues that these methods are essential to protect democracy. Human rights lawyers say they are torture. Now viewers can decide if they are justified in the war on terror."

The US military denies using torture methods at the camp, but the US Justice Department has already opened an investigation after FBI reports about harsh treatment at the base were made public.

Four British Muslim detainees recently returned to the UK where one terror suspect, Martin Mubanga, immediately began legal proceedings claiming he had been arrested on the advice of MI6.

Channel 4 is also planning to screen a documentary about the first British lawyer allowed into Guantanamo, Clive Stafford Smith, later this month as part of three shows on torture, as journalist Andrew Gilligan examines the secret worldwide network of torture used to gather information from Al-Qaeda suspects.

Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4's head of news and current affairs, said: "The use of torture or of information gained through torture has been justified as essential in the war against terror.

"This season of programmes challenges viewers to watch torture techniques we know are used in Guantanamo."

What world do we live in, that we "need" such a TV show to get this to the minds of the people ?

*sigh*

[Vora]

Oh my god... this is really sick. -_-

[1vegan]

I hope it brings the guantanamo issue to the minds of people...

I'm not going to say too much on what I think of the american government here (I'm european) but what is done, and how it keeps going on there, really worries me.

[Jobey]

I think its actually a good idea, though rather twisted. The people involved are volunteers and can walk out at anytime. Hopefuly the suffering they go through will open peoples eyes to what goes on. You hear about these things but to actually see them could really drive home the reality of it. Some prisoners were in GB for years before being released without charge and one volunteer couldnt take 7 hours. Just hope its not too tasteless

[Stu]

Thank God for Channel 4. You wouldn't get responsible, informative TV like this from the BBC or ITV, would you?

Does anyone know when this programme is on? Sounds fantastic.

[Spiral]

Thank God for Channel 4. You wouldn't get responsible, informative TV like this from the BBC or ITV, would you?

You do sometimes. The BBC panorama programme on racism in the police force, and John Pilger has some very hard hitting documentaries on ITV.

Does anyone know when this programme is on? Sounds fantastic.

It's on tonight (28th Feb) at 11.05pm.

There's another programme on tomorrow night on a similar subject on channel 4 at 11.10pm entitled Torture: The Dirty Business.

'Andrew Gilligan goes on the trail of the Special Removal Unit, a secretive US kidnap team that abducts people suspected of terrorist links and hands them over to countries where they will be tortured for information'

[Stu]

Excellent. Cheers, *M*. I'll be putting reminders on my phone for those.