Kurdish Filmmaker Describes 'Inhumane' Forced Feeding by ICE

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Kurdish filmmaker and activist Gabar Choli has, for the first time, shared his experience of being force-fed for months by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas. He said the ordeal "broke him down" both physically and mentally.

Choli began a hunger strike on March 24, 2025, to protest poor detention conditions and demand release or deportation. He was moved to a segregated unit at the facility run by private contractor Akima Global Services. Starting in late May 2025, guards regularly burst into his room, wrestled him to the floor, handcuffed him, and dragged him to the medical unit. There, they held him down on a bed while medical staff inserted a tube through his nose into his throat and pumped nutrients into his stomach.

"Two guards held my legs, two held my arms, one held my head, and they shoved the tube up my nose," Choli recounted. "It's not easy being wrestled down by people stronger than you twice a day. You have to endure it. There are 60 centimeters of tube going through you, and you feel every centimeter."

According to a Guardian investigation based on court records and expert interviews, Choli was force-fed by ICE for nearly eight months, from late May 2025 until he was deported to Canada in January 2026. He was not the only case; another Afghan man on hunger strike was also force-fed at the same facility.

Human rights organizations condemn forced feeding as torture. Choli suffered sinusitis, esophageal damage, stomach issues, and psychological trauma. On one occasion, he said a nurse "pushed the tube so hard it tore his nose from the inside," causing bleeding for days. He also described being given nutrients and then experiencing diarrhea, but being returned to a cell without a toilet, forcing him to defecate on himself. "I looked at my dirty body and clothes and cried. I cried because I was treated like an object," he wrote in a court declaration.

Court records show Choli had no lawyer throughout his detention. Federal Judge Rolando Olvera ordered the forced feeding without hearing from him at a hearing. Choli's request for legal counsel was also denied. According to ICE documents filed in court, the agency's doctors deemed Choli's hunger strike a "serious threat to the security and order" of the facility, and that "the public interest is served by not allowing his efforts to manipulate the immigration system."

Dr. Chanelle Diaz, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, who reviewed Choli's medical records, said: "This is almost certainly torture. With Choli's case, being force-fed for eight months, you're talking about more than 100 or even 200 nasogastric tube insertions. That's not medical care; it's torture."

Parveen Parmar, a medical expert with Physicians for Human Rights, stressed: "The World Health Organization and other medical bodies have stated that an individual has the right to decide to hunger strike if they are competent. Patient autonomy is one of the core principles of medicine."

ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas did not respond to specific questions about Choli's case. However, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement: "ICE respects an individual's right to refuse medical treatment when appropriate. However, when an individual's medical condition poses a serious risk of death or permanent harm, ICE may seek court authorization for appropriate medical intervention."

Choli recounted that in October last year, on his birthday, one of the center's doctors and nurses sang "Happy Birthday" to him in Spanish. He doesn't remember whether he took nutrients or was force-fed that day. He also spoke of an arrangement with staff that on each Friday, he would voluntarily drink nutritional fluids if allowed to pray with other detainees, calling those "peaceful days."

On January 6, ICE deported Choli to Canada, where he reunited with his siblings. The next day, he nervously ate his first solid meal in months—a small salad. He was fine, but his jaw ached for days. "It sounds strange, but I had to learn to eat again," he said. "The price of the hunger strike was my life. My kidneys, gallbladder, intestines, bladder... Every time I turn, I feel pain. But that's the price you pay when you stand up for what's right."

When asked if he blames Donald Trump, Choli replied: "Trump is just one person. Trump wasn't here torturing me." He believes the problem lies in the broader treatment of immigrants and refugees by the U.S. government.