UPDATE: A New York Times investigation published on Sept. 24 ,2023 stated that reporters had been unable to confirm Mansoor Adayfi's claims. "An examination of military records and interviews with detainees’ lawyers and service members who served at the same time as Mr. DeSantis found no evidence to back up the claims," the Times wrote. "The New York Times interviewed more than 40 people who served with Mr. DeSantis or around the same time and none recalled witnessing or even hearing of any episodes like the ones Mr. Adayfi described."
Showtime was all set to air "The Guantanamo Candidate," a Vice-created documentary alleging to examine Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' time as a military lawyer at the controversial enemy combatant detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But according to Semafor, the parent company, Paramount, killed the series before it aired — and their reasons for doing so don't entirely add up.
"Vice reporters had secured on camera interviews with a former detainee, Mansoor Adayfi, and a guard at the prison, staff sergeant Joe Hickman," reported Max Tani. According to the report, both of them recalled seeing DeSantis during a detainee hunger strike. "The Vice crew traveled to Guantanamo Bay to attempt to try to speak to military staff, and made several attempts to ask DeSantis about the allegations directly, eventually confronting him at a press conference in Israel, according to a detailed description provided to Semafor."
However, at the last minute the documentary was pulled.
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Showtime and Vice claim that the issue was a scheduling conflict — but according to the report, multiple insiders said "the Paramount-owned cable channel ditched the DeSantis episode over fears of the political consequences. One person briefed on the decision told Semafor that the company’s Washington lobbyist, DeDe Lea, raised concerns about the piece."
Reports indicate that at the height of the "war on terror" following the September 11 attacks, detainees at Guantanamo Bay who refused to eat were often strapped down and a liquefied nutrient slurry was pumped into them through a tube forced into their nose — or in some cases, their rectum. The U.N. has classified force-feeding prisoners as a form of torture.
DeSantis, who was a 27-year-old Navy lieutenant judge advocate general at the time, has admitted in interviews that he advised Guantanamo guards on how to force-feed striking detainees in a way he believed was consistent with military law — but he denies allegations that he personally oversaw Adayfi's force-feeding, and as of now there is no publicly known independent evidence confirming or refuting this. Whether or not he was present, Guantanamo policy was notoriously micromanaged by leaders in D.C., making it doubtful DeSantis had a significant role in setting the controversial policy.
According to the report, the allegedly political decision to not air the documentary "came as [Paramount] cut costs to reflect a gloomy streaming business. The company folded a diminished Showtime under the streaming umbrella Paramount+, and laid off a wave of staffers, including the executive who greenlit prestige unscripted shows and documentaries. The new president Chris McCarthy, has a background in less expensive reality TV."
Vice is now shopping around to a different outlet to air the documentary.
