Apparently Ron DeSantis Laughed While Torturing People at Guantánamo

In 2006, a Yemeni citizen named Mansoor Adayfi was detained at Guantánamo Bay without cause.

“Torture was the mechanism of Guantánamo,” Adayfi told Mike Prysner on the Eyes Left podcast in November. “Torture, abuse, and experimenting on prisoners. We went on a massive hunger strike in 2005. And there was force-feeding. It was torture.”

According to Adayfi, the ringleader of the tormentors at Guantánamo during the Bush years was one Ron DeSantis, current governor of Florida.

“I saw a f*cking handsome person come in,” Adayfi continues in a transcript of the conversation in the most recent issue of Harpers, “and he said, “I’m here to ensure that you are treated humanely.”

In fact, the opposite was true.

“In 2006,” Adayfi explained, “when DeSantis was there, it was one of the worst times at Guantánamo. The administration, the guards, all of them were the worst. They cracked down on us so hard.”

In order to break a hunger strike, for instance, a special team was sent in to force-feed the prisoners Ensure until they vomited.

“Ron DeSantis was there watching us,” Adayfi says. “We were crying, screaming. We were tied to the feeding chair. And he was watching. He was laughing. Our stomachs could not hold this amount of Ensure. They poured one can after another. So when he approached me, I said, “This is the way we are treated!” He said, “You should eat.” I threw up in his face. Literally on his face.”

For those of us who have been paying close attention to DeSantis’s anti-gay, anti-trans platform, this information comes as no surprise. The surprise is that it hasn’t been in the headlines yet.

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