(Image source from: The Conversation (Image for representation purpose only))

Three Indian nationals seeking asylum in the United States, who have been on hunger strike for three weeks, were forced to receive IV drips (Intravenous drips) at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas.

All three have been in detention for months, and one has been detained for over a year. The fourth man is also Indian and it's unclear if that man was also forced to accept an IV.

The men went on a hunger strike at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center on July 9.

"My clients made the decision to begin a hunger strike to protest prolonged detention and what they believe were biased and discriminatory practices by the immigration court toward their cases," Linda Corchado, the lawyer for three of the four men said.  

The men are trying to appeal or reopen asylum claims that were denied, according to Corchado. They had gone 20 days without food, as of Sunday,  she said.

The Department of Justice last week filed orders with federal judges to feed or hydrate them non-consensually, the Associated Press reported.

Lawyers and activists told AP they were worried that the next step will be force-feeding.

“After languishing a year or more in detention with no end in sight, these men were left with no other options to call attention to their prolonged detention and unfair immigration proceedings, and to obtain their freedom,” Corchado said.

ICE confirmed that there were detainee hunger strikes at its facilities in Otero and El Paso, late last week.

According to Corchado, one of the hunger strikers in Otero was deported to India eight days into his hunger strike.  

The World Medical Association condemns all force-feeding and in the Declaration of Malta on Hunger Strikes states that "forced feeding is never ethically acceptable".

The American Medical Association accepts the WMA's position and condemns force-feeding of hunger strikers as a violation of core ethical values. The United Nations has indicated that force-feeding of individuals held in ICE detention may go against the Convention Against Torture.

Academics of medical ethics note that "hunger strikers are not suicidal-as a matter of fact", they are seeking "to obtain recognition for and solutions to their demands, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives to that purpose if need be".

ICE may stay away from redoing the national embarrassment of force-feeding asylum seekers by releasing these men before long.

By Sowmya Sangam