Torture devices allegedly used by Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein, on members of Iraq's Olympic team as tools of punishment for bad performance. EPA/EMPICS
In the name of interrogation, detainees are routinely subjected to a range of torture methods.
Torture lite
The USA, like Britain, has ratified the UN Convention Against Torture, prohibiting it from inflicting ‘severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental’. In response, the Bush government has developed an arsenal of ‘stressful’ methods which, they claim, do not qualify as torture.
Prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere report being ordered to stand motionless for hours at a time; being subjected to ‘environmental manipulation’ (extremes of heat and cold); being bombarded with bright lights and loud music ranging from heavy metal to Barney the Dinosaur; and having their sleep patterns ‘adjusted’ by frequent interruptions. In a treatment labelled ‘pride and ego down’, detainees are insulted and denigrated, with racial and religious abuse commonplace. Many report being paraded naked in front of others – a particularly humiliating experience for devout muslims. The goal is to break the detainees by inducing shame and despair.
Psychological attack
In 1971, British Army interrogators hooded suspected IRA members and forced them to lean forwards against a wall while white noise played continuously. This treatment combined two techniques which are still in use. Ordering detainees to maintain uncomfortable ‘stress positions’ produces the pain of torture without physical contact. It also helps break victims psychologically: by making an effort to maintain a stress position, victims effectively take responsibility for their own suffering. The ‘sensory deprivation’ represented by hooding and white noise has a more direct effect, leading to confusion and psychological disturbance. It is estimated that victims begin to hallucinate after 40 minutes.
Physical torment
There are several countries where prisoners are routinely subjected to physical torture, either to extract evidence or simply to subdue them. In Saudi Arabia in 2001, two British men were systematically beaten over a period of weeks until they confessed to crimes they had not committed. The two were beaten on the soles of their feet for hours at a time – a torture widely used in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. In 2002 a terrorist suspect kidnapped by the CIA was transferred to Syria, where he was beaten with electrical cables until he confessed to involvement with Al Qaeda. He was later released without charge.
Terminal torture
There are documented cases, in recent years, of prisoners being tortured to death. In Uzbekistan, several people have died in custody in suspicious circumstances. One young man appeared to have had his hand immersed in boiling water and his knees and elbows smashed before he died. His cause of death was given as ‘heart attack’. Another Uzbek prisoner appears to have been literally boiled to death. But fatal torture is not an Uzbek speciality. A US Army report into Abu Ghraib notes that, since 2001, there have been five cases around the world of ‘detainee deaths as a result of abuse by US personnel’.
