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$Unique_ID{COW02123}
$Pretitle{385B}
$Title{Kuwait
Chapter 4. Torture and Ill-Treatment of Detainees}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Amnesty International}
$Affiliation{Amnesty International}
$Subject{amnesty
international
torture
iraqi
kuwaiti
told
detainee
detainees
august
kuwait}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Country: Kuwait
Book: Iraq/Occupied Kuwait Human Rights Violations Since 2 August
Author: Amnesty International
Affiliation: Amnesty International
Date: 1990
Chapter 4. Torture and Ill-Treatment of Detainees
In the period August to November, Amnesty International interviewed
scores of detainees who stated that they had been tortured while in the
custody of Iraqi forces. The majority of the victims were Kuwaiti males
between the ages of 16 and 35, some of whom still bore marks of torture on
their bodies when interviewed. Amnesty International has also received
numerous other testimonies from the families of torture victims, the doctors
who examined them and, in the cases of those who died, the people who buried
them. Some have also given accounts of the torture and ill-treatment of women
generally, who are said to have been subjected to beatings and rape. The
methods of torture and ill-treatment said to have been used by the Iraqi
forces since 2 August are listed in detail at the end of this section.
Iraqi forces at all levels appear to have been involved in the infliction
of torture on detainees. They include ordinary soldiers from Iraq's regular
army, senior military personnel, and agents of Iraqi intelligence and the
security forces. Based on the information it has received and the interviews
it has conducted, Amnesty International believes that torture is being
systematically used during interrogation, both in order to extract information
and as punishment. It is during this period that torture is described at its
most brutal, when the interrogation methods used by Iraqi forces have
frequently resulted in permanent physical or mental damage. The condition of
detainees under such circumstances is compounded by their deprivation of
medical treatment while in custody and, following their release, by the almost
total absence of medical facilities.
Two categories of detainees appear to have been targetted for
particularly severe torture: actual or suspected members of the Kuwaiti armed
forces, National Guard, police and security forces, and individuals suspected
of having participated in armed resistance against Iraqi forces. However,
others have been tortured for involvement in non-violent activities such as
peaceful demonstrations (in the early days of the invasion), writing anti-Iraq
slogans on walls, possessing opposition leaflets and raising the Kuwaiti flag.
In large measure, torture in these cases was aimed at punishing such acts of
defiance. It was also aimed at extracting information about the identity of
persons involved in opposition activities, the locations of such activities,
and the whereabouts of individuals or families being sought by the Iraqi
authorities. In other cases, the objective was to force detainees to
cooperate with the Iraqis after release by acting as informers. Coupled with
that was forcing them to make statements against the Kuwaiti ruling family and
government and making declarations of allegiance to Iraq's President Saddam
Hussein. Finally, the sheer brutality of the torture inflicted on detainees
was designed to terrorize the population at large and to discourage others
from expressing in whatever form their opposition to the Iraqi presence in
Kuwait.
Appendix A of this document contains the testimonies of eight Kuwaiti men
and youths who stated to Amnesty International that they had been tortured at
the hands of Iraqi forces [their names have been withheld at their own
request]:
A1. A former interrogator in his early 30s, arrested on 22 September
after being found in possession of a leaflet giving information on chemical
weapons. He was detained for one week, principally at al-Farwaniyya police
station, and subjected to beatings, kicking, burning of the skin and sexual
torture.
A2. A 17-year-old student arrested in early September after being found
in possession of a gun and leaflets containing information on weaponry. He was
detained for 36 days in several detention centres in Kuwait City and later in
Basra and subjected to beatings, mock execution, falaga [beatings on the soles
of the feet], electric shocks and threatened with sexual torture.
A3. A 32-year-old office clerk arrested on 3 August as he returned home
after buying foodstuffs from the local cooperative society. He was detained
for five days at al-Sulaibiyya police station and subjected to beatings and
electric shocks, and was shot in the leg at point blank range.
A4. A 22-year-old student arrested on 24 August following house-to-house
searches in the district of al-Rawda. He was detained for eight days in
al-Rawda and al-Farwaniyya police stations, and subjected to beatings,
kicking, and falaga. Cigarettes were extinguished on his body and his leg was
slashed with a knife.
A5. A 38-year-old man arrested on 5 September after another detainee
allegedly revealed that he was active in the armed opposition. He was detained
for one week at the Kuwait General Staff headquarters in the district of
al-Shuwaikh and later in Basra. He was subjected to beatings, mock execution,
exposure to hot and cold temperatures, electric shocks and suspension from a
rotating fan.
A6. A man in his 30s arrested twice, in the third week of August and
later on 20 September and accused of being a member of the Kuwaiti armed
forces and of having participated in opposition activities. He was held for
four days in a school and at al-Jahra' police station and subjected to
beatings, kicking, electric shocks and the placing of heavy weights on his
body.
A7. A 23-year-old student arrested around 22 September after returning to
Kuwait to assist his family in fleeing the country. He was detained for
eighteen days in several detention centres in Kuwait City and later in Basra.
He was subjected to beatings, whipping, exposure to cold air and to the sun
for prolonged periods, as well as electric shocks.
A8. A 31-year-old man arrested on 14 September at his home during a
diwaniyya [a traditional male gathering where social and political issues are
discussed]. He was detained for three weeks at al-Farwaniyya and al-Jahra'
police stations as well as a private home in Kuwait City, and later in Basra.
He was subjected to beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, was forced to
watch his relatives being tortured and was himself tortured in front of them.
Numerous other testimonies have reached Amnesty International, from which
only a selected few are published in this document. The following is extract
from the testimony of a Kuwaiti former detainee held in al-Kadhima Sports
Club. Here he describes the condition of other detainees held with him,
including that of a 13-year-old boy:
" .. One of the soldiers led us into the squash court, and we saw many
Kuwaitis of different ages, ranging between 13 and 45. Some of them had
fainted from torture. I sat next to a 13-year-old boy whose body looked blue.
I asked him, "What have you confessed to?" He said: "My crime was to shout
Allahu Akbar at every oppressor, and I was tortured with electricity for four
days. The skin on my back was peeling and I can only sleep while sitting."
There was another young man who was unable to stand or hold anything because
the skin on his hands and feet had split and peeled from being tortured with
flames. Worse than that, I saw one of the young men from the resistance whose
finger and toenails had been extracted, and whose body was blue from [the
application of] electricity. He had become blind because they had used a kind
of caustic substance to torture him. He was barely alive, unaware of what was
happening around him. [Then he told me who he was and said], "Take care o