Methods of Torture in the Late Twentieth & Early Twenty-First Centuries(From Edward Peters, Torture, pp. 169-170)
I've highlighted those techniques we know have been used by US interrogators (military, criminal, civil, and intelligence) since WWII. There may be other techniques used for which we have no documentation.
Somatic Tortures
Beating: punching, kicking, striking with truncheons, rifle butts, jumping on the stomach
Falanga: beating the soles of the feet with rods
Finger torture: pencil placed between victim's fingers, which are then pressed together violently
Telephono: the torturer strikes with his flat hand at a victim's ear, imitating a telephone receiver, producing rupture of the tympanic membrane; telephono may also consist of blows delivered against a helmet worn by the victim
Electricity: probing with pointed electrodes; cattle prods; shock batons; metal grids, metal beds to which victims are tied; the dragon's chair, an electric chair used in Brazil
Burning: with lighted cigarettes, cigars, electrically heated rods, hot oil, acid, quicklime; roasting on a red-hot grill; byt he rubbing of pepper or other chemical substances upon mucous membranes, or acids and spices directly on wounds
Submarino: the submersion of the victims head in water (often filthy water) until on the brink of suffocation (US readers: sound familiar?)
Dry submarino: the victim's head is covered by a plastic bag or blanket, or the mouth and nostrils gagged until the point of suffocation is reached
Suspension in mid-air: victim is suspended with knees bent over a metal rod and tied tightly to wrists
Prolonged assumption of forced and stressful positions of body
Prolonged standing
Traction alopecia: the pulling out of hair
The forcible extraction of nails
Rape and sexual assaults
Insertion of foreign bodies into vagina or rectum
Operating Table: table to which victim is strapped, either for being forcibly stretched, or secured only below the lower back, necessitating victim's supporting his or her own weight that is off the table
Exposure to cold: submission in cold air or water
Deprivation of water: providing only soiled, salty, or soapy water
Forced consmption of spoiled or deliberately heavily spiced food
Dental torture: forced extraction of teeth
Psychological Torture
Witnessing the torture sessions of others: relatives, children
Threats made to witness the torture of others
Sham executions
Sleep deprivation
Continuous exposure to light
Solitary confinement
Incommunicado (being held without any human communication)
Total sensory deprivation
Conditions of detention
Threats
Shame-infliction: stripping naked; forced participation in or witnessing of sexual activity
Pharmacological Torture
Enforced application of psychotropic drugs
Enforced application of nerve stimulants: histamines; aminazine; trifluoro perazine-stelazine
Enforced injection of faecal matter
Enforced ingestion of sulphur or poison
________
Photo: Vietcong suspect being subjected to field submarino by US interrogators
torture, human rights
|