Oleksii Sivak has set up a support group for others who have suffered widespread but unspoken abuse
Russian troops tortured Oleksii Sivak for weeks, applying electric shocks to his genitals in a freezing basement in his home city of Kherson in punishment for resisting their rule.
When Ukrainian troops freed the city in the autumn of 2022, Sivak was presented with a long list of medical specialists who could help his recovery and asked to tick the ones he needed.
Continue reading...Three top officers close to Bashar al-Assad are on trial in absentia over the deaths of a student and his father
Witnesses have told a Paris court how children and elderly people considered enemies of the ruling Syrian regime were tortured in a notorious military prison, at the trial of three high-ranking officers close to the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
The three are being tried in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the deaths of two French-Syrian dual nationals, Patrick Dabbagh, a 20-year-old student, and his father, 48.
Continue reading...UK does not ‘solicit, encourage or condone’ inhumane treatment, but critics say ministerial approval system contradicts this
• UK politics – latest updates
The number of requests for UK ministerial approval of intelligence-sharing where there was a real risk of torture, unlawful killing or extraordinary rendition has more than doubled in a year.
The investigatory powers commissioner’s report outlining the rise comes after a parliamentary debate on Monday in which MPs from across the political divide questioned the adequacy of the UK’s policy on torture under the Fulford principles.
Continue reading...In rare admission, commander of Indonesian military in the province says horrific footage is a ‘violation of the law’, and confirms 13 personnel have been detained
Warning: this article contains graphic content
Graphic footage of a West Papuan man bound in a water-filled barrel and being beaten and cut with knives by Indonesian soldiers has drawn a rare apology from the commander of Indonesia’s military in the province.
Major General Izak Pangemanan confirmed 13 military personnel had been detained and more than 40 questioned as part of an investigation into the torture of the unarmed man.
Continue reading...King urged to offer apology while in Kenya for UK’s ‘brutal and inhuman treatment’ during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s
The Kenya Human Rights Commission has called on King Charles to offer an “unequivocal public apology” for colonial abuses, during his visit to the country this week.
“We call upon the king, on behalf of the British government, to issue an unconditional and unequivocal public apology (as opposed to the very cautious, self-preserving and protective statements of regrets) for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens,” the KHRC said.
Continue reading...Public demand for Jagtar Singh Johal to be set free is ‘not in his best interests’, says Asia minister
The UK government has decided not to call for the release of a British man held in an Indian jail for five years, saying it would not be in his best interests.
There have been repeated calls for Britain to do more to secure the release of Jagtar Singh Johal, who claims to have been tortured and forced to make a confession. He faces terrorism charges and the first stages of his trial have just started after repeated delays caused by disputes over evidence.
Continue reading...Parliamentary ombudsman says Matthew Hedges was let down by UK government during imprisonment
The UK’s parliamentary ombudsman has found that the Foreign Office “failed to notice signs of torture” when officials visited a British academic imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates.
Matthew Hedges was convicted on spying charges by the UAE in 2018 after travelling to Dubai to conduct research for his PhD at Durham University. He spent six months in prison, where he has said he had been handcuffed, drugged and questioned for hours, before being pardoned from a life sentence for spying.
Continue reading...Report details widespread and systematic torture with summary executions of more than 70 people
Russian forces have carried out widespread and systematic torture of civilians detained in connection with their attack on Ukraine, summarily executing more than 70 of them, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.
It interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses for a report detailing more than 900 cases of civilians, including children and elderly people, being arbitrarily detained in the conflict, most of them by Russia. The vast majority of those interviewed said they were tortured and in some cases subjected to sexual violence during detention by Russian forces, the head of the UN human rights office in Ukraine said.
Continue reading...Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri wants to bring case examining alleged role of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ in his mistreatment by CIA
A Guantánamo Bay prisoner tortured by the CIA has accused British intelligence agencies of complicity in his mistreatment in a new case before one of UK’s most secretive courts.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is alleged by the US to have plotted al-Qaida’s bombing of an American naval ship, is seeking to persuade the court to consider his complaint against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
Continue reading...Exclusive: For 21 years, the detainee has been in US custody without charge, tortured and sexually humiliated, with no prospect for release
• Warning: the images and descriptions of torture in this article are extremely graphic
A detainee held in the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay who was used as a human guinea pig in the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program has produced the most comprehensive and detailed account yet seen of the brutal techniques to which he was subjected.
Abu Zubaydah has created a series of 40 drawings that chronicle the torture he endured in a number of CIA dark sites between 2002 and 2006 and at Guantánamo Bay. In the absence of a full official accounting of the torture program, which the CIA and the FBI have labored for years to keep secret, the images give a unique and searing insight into a grisly period in US history.
Continue reading...UN’s arbitrary detention group calls for immediate release of Palestinian Abu Zubaydah, saying detention has no basis in law
A UN body has declared that the detention of a long-term Guantánamo inmate, Abu Zubaydah, has no lawful basis and called for his immediate release, warning that the systemic deprivation of liberty at the camp may “constitute crimes against humanity”.
The UN working group on arbitrary detention (UNWGAD), also declared the UK, among other countries, was “jointly responsible for the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Mr Zubaydah” over his more than 20 years in detention.
Continue reading...Al-Qaida courier turned informant Majid Khan to be permanently resettled after being held in US custody for nearly 20 years
The US has released Majid Khan, an al-Qaida courier turned informant who was tortured in secret CIA prisons and held in custody for nearly 20 years, marking the first time a “high-value detainee” has been freed from Guantánamo Bay.
Khan, a 42-year-old Pakistani born in Saudi Arabia, completed his jail term last March and landed in Belize on Thursday, where he is to be permanently resettled.
Continue reading...Konstantin Yefremov escaped Russia after serving three months as a lieutenant in Zaporizhzhia oblast
A senior Russian lieutenant who fled after serving in Ukraine has described how his country’s troops tortured prisoners of war and threatened some with rape.
Konstantin Yefremov left Russia in December after spending three months in the parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia oblast that were occupied in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Two teenagers and 31-year-old man were subjected to torture including rape and beatings and denied fair trial, says group
The alleged torture of three young Iranian men facing the death penalty has been detailed in a report by Amnesty International that raises deep concerns about the country’s judicial system.
One of the men, Mehdi Mohammadifard, was raped by prison guards and severely beaten, the rights group said. Amnesty said it had learned that Mohammadifard suffered anal injuries and rectal bleeding that required treatment in a hospital outside the prison where he was being held.
Continue reading...Advocates say ombudsman’s findings lay bare ‘inhumane’ treatment in Australia’s detention centres
An immigration detainee served a contaminated meal was not offered an alternative because the maggots were “just on the vegetables”, a report by the federal watchdog has found.
The claims by the commonwealth ombudsman – which are denied by the Australian Border Force – come in a report into conditions inside federal detention centres as part of Australia’s obligations under a UN anti-torture treaty – the optional protocol to the convention against torture (Opcat).
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Continue reading...Jim Auld, 72, was one of 14 ‘hooded men’ subjected to interrogation methods since ruled as torture
Jim Auld was so tortured by British army interrogators during the Troubles that he tried to kill himself. He survived but has never seen a counsellor or psychologist or psychiatrist, and never will.
“I don’t trust them that it wouldn’t end up in a paper somewhere. I don’t want the torturers learning from me so they can improve their techniques,” he said last week.
Continue reading...Foreign Office minister says case of Hussein Abo al-Kheir raised ‘at highest level’ and demands end to executions
The British government has condemned as “abhorrent” what it said was the clear torture of a Jordanian national on death row in Saudi Arabia for drug offences, and demanded an end to a sudden spate of executions in the Gulf monarchy.
It was the first time the British government has made the allegation.
Continue reading...Former prime minister disappointed by states’ decisions to not allow full access to UN subcommittee on prevention of torture
The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the New South Wales and Queensland governments to “think carefully about the international company they are keeping” by blocking or limiting United Nations inspectors’ access to detention facilities.
Turnbull said he was disappointed by the government decisions to not allow full access to the team, who are in the country this week as part of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, ratified when he was in office in 2017.
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Continue reading...Kunti Kamara charged with torture, cannibalism and complicity in crimes against humanity during civil war between 1989 and 1996
A former Liberian rebel commander will go on trial in Paris on Monday charged with acts of barbarity including torture, cannibalism, forced labour and complicity in crimes against humanity during the country’s first civil war more than 25 years ago.
It is the first trial in France of a non-Rwandan suspect accused of wartime atrocities since the special crimes against humanity tribunal was set up in Paris in 2012.
Continue reading...As the Ukrainian city’s five-month ordeal ends, the evidence of dead bodies and survivors’ testimonies suggests Izium could be another Bucha
Standing in the gloom, Maksim Maksimov pointed to the spot where he was tortured with electric shocks. Russian soldiers took him from his cell in the basement of Izium’s police station. They sat him on an office chair and attached a zig-zag crocodile clip to his finger. It was connected by cable to an old-fashioned Soviet military field telephone.
And then it began. A soldier cranked the handle, turning it faster and faster. This sent an excruciating pulse through Maksimov’s body. “I collapsed. They pulled me upright. There was a hood on my head. I couldn’t see anything. My legs went numb. I was unable to hear in my left ear,” he recalled. “Then they did it again. I passed out. I came round 40 minutes later back in my cell.”
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