Torture

The pain of torture is unbearable. I never thought I would be alive till this day. The pain I went through in the hands of the officers was unimaginable. In my whole life, I have never been subjected to such inhuman treatment. –Moses Akatugba, February 2014

On November 27, 2005, Moses Akatugba, then only 16 years old, was awaiting the results of his secondary schools exams when he was arrested by the Nigerian army and charged with stealing three cell phones and various other communication-related items.

Moses describes being shot in the hand and soldiers beating him on the head and back during his arrest. He was initially held at the army barracks, where he said soldiers showed him a corpse and when he was unable to identify the dead man, he was beaten.

After being transferred to Epkan police station in Delta State he suffered further torture and ill-treatment. Moses told one human rights defender that the police severely beat him with machetes and batons, tied and hanged him for several hours in interrogation rooms, and used pliers to pull out his finger and toe nails in order to force him to sign two confessions.

Posted at 0001hrs BST 13 May 2014

* Amnesty International has reported on torture or other ill-treatment in 141 countries over the past five years
* New global survey of more than 21,000 people in 21 countries across every continent reveals fear of torture exists in all these countries
* Nearly half of respondents fear torture if taken into custody
* More than 80% want strong laws to protect them from torture
* More than a third believe torture can be justified

      AT A GLANCE

Dilorom Abdukadirova is serving an 18-year sentence in Tashkent Women’s Prison after an unfair trial. She was tortured and ill-treated in pre-trial detention. Her family fears she may still be at risk.

In May 2005, Dilorom Abdukadirova joined in a mass demonstration in Babur Square in the centre of Andizhan. The protesters hoped the president would meet with them and listen to their concerns about the economy. They were greeted instead by security forces using live ammunition. Hundreds were killed. Dilorom was among 500 protesters who managed to escape from the square and flee to Kyrgyzstan on foot. Eventually she was granted asylum in Australia in 2006.

The Uzbekistani authorities assured Dilorom and her family that nothing would happen if she returned home. In January 2010, she set off to reunite with her husband and children. However, she was immediately detained upon arrival at Tashkent airport because she did not have a valid exit permit in her passport. She was questioned for four days and released after being charged with “illegal exit” from Uzbekistan.

A globally admired artistic duo has created 30 limited edition “Freedom Candles” which will shortly be auctioned on eBay in support of Amnesty International's work in promoting human rights. A short film showcasing the candles has been released.

Mark Landwher & Sven Waschk— known as ‘coarse’— are renowned for their striking and meticulous vinyl sculptures. This is the first time that the duo has turned its attention to the subject of human rights. Coarse’s attention to craft brings out the emotion of the people involved and the issues, causing the viewer to empathize with the situation on a more personal level.

When each candle is burned, the wax sculpture depicting the injustice burns away to reveal a new bronze figure inside—symbolizing the positive change that human rights activism can help to effect.

The US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) has voted for a degree of transparency on the now long-festering injustices associated with the secret detention program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after the attacks of 11 September 2001.

Given the systematic failure of the US authorities to declassify and disclose anything like the full truth about the CIA rendition, detention and interrogation programs, any transparency on them is a step in the right direction.

The SSCI has voted to submit for declassification the summary and findings of its review of the secret detention program, authorized by former President George W. Bush in September 2001 and ended by President Barack Obama in 2009.

But publication of the SSCI summary and findings – hopefully without redactions – will be just one small step. The administration and Congress must do far more to ensure accountability for past violations and their non-recurrence in the future. For a start, the full SSCI report – and the CIA rendition, detention and interrogation programs themselves – should be declassified.

A decision by a court in Lithuania ruling that a Saudi Arabian national has a right to an investigation into his alleged torture in a secret CIA detention centre in the country is a breakthrough for justice, said Amnesty International.

“The court’s decision in the case of Mustafa al-Hawsawi is a real victory in the pursuit of accountability for Lithuania’s alleged complicity in the CIA rendition and secret detention programmes,” said Julia Hall, Amnesty International’s expert on counter-terrorism and human rights.

“The Lithuanian court has set an example for all of Europe and the USA by upholding the rule of law and recognizing that victims of torture and enforced disappearance at the hands of the CIA and European agents have an absolute right to a thorough investigation.”

“The Lithuanian government and Prosecutor General must now open a full and effective investigation into Mustafa al-Hawsawi’s claims and ensure that any other individuals who have alleged that they were held in secret CIA detention there are afforded the same right.”

World leaders at the Geneva II peace conference on Syria must demand full access to investigate allegations that 11,000 people have been tortured and killed while in detention in the country and monitor conditions in detention, said Amnesty International.

A report by former war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts is based on documents and thousands of still images of what appear to be the bodies of dead prisoners. The material was smuggled out of the country by a defected military police photographer. The photographs cover the period from the start of the uprising in 2011 until August 2013.

“The Geneva II peace conference must treat this as an absolute priority. Concrete steps must be taken to respond to the scale of the horrific human rights situation in detention centres and the country in general,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director.

“World leaders must demand that the Commission of Inquiry and other human rights bodies be granted immediate access to all places of detention – formal and informal – in Syria.