Kurdish Activist Gabar Choli Describes 8 Months of ICE Force-Feeding After Hunger Strike
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Kurdish Activist Gabar Choli Describes 8 Months of ICE Force-Feeding After Hunger Strike
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Summary
Gabar Choli said ICE force-fed him for eight months in Texas detention, often twice a day, leaving him physically injured and psychologically broken before his January 2026 deportation to Canada.
Court records show ICE won emergency orders to use restraints, nasogastric feeding, IV hydration, blood draws and forced catheterization after Choli began a hunger strike over detention conditions and his failed asylum case.
ICE and DHS argued the treatment was needed to prevent death and maintain order, while Choli told the judge he was not suicidal and was protesting abuse; he had no lawyer, and the judge repeatedly extended the order.
DHS sources told the Guardian ICE obtained court orders for involuntary medical treatment for 18 hunger strikers between January 2025 and Aug. 4, 2026, suggesting Choli's case may be the longest documented force-feeding episode in ICE detention.