waiting for godot – or the guards… but the guards always come
Posted by hakawi on November 25, 2007
On torture again: it seems that torture is THE news now. Here are the week’s happenings regarding torture:
- the release of the Israeli documentary To see if I’m smiling [as mentioned in the previous post]
- the sentencing of Islam Nabih, the Egyptian officer whose torture of an Egyptian citizen was caught on tape. [This is the ONLY good news here]
- the mysterious suspension of Misr Digital’s YouTube channel – where blogger Wael Abbas uploaded all his videos exposing Egypt’s torture of civilians.
- Amnesty International’s launching of its anti-torture campaign Unsubscribe-Me
[I found that first on Sabbah's blog]. The powerful campaign exposes the different torture methods employed including stress positions. Please join their campaign and put your signature on anti-torture.
It is frightening to know that there is no difference between civilized and uncivilized – between First Worlds or Third Worlds – torture seems to be more prevalent and more widely accepted. And we are all like sheep taken to the slaughter. When caught, some torturers get their dues – but what lies beneath is ever more frightening and eerie. It is what we don’t see or know about that is our true nightmare.
We waited for Godot – but only the guards came. Don’t the guards always come?
Joseph said
Well, I think you should mention the Saudi government sentencing the VICTIM of gang rape to 200 lashes. Making a terrorist stand in an uncomfortable position is hardly torture compared to what this innocent victim is given under Sharia law. Barbaric.
hakawi said
Joseph I do agree with you, but I do not think it is a matter of ‘degrees’ of torture. Torture is torture, no matter the degree. Certainly the gang rape and lashes of that poor child is barbaric, so was the murder of Doaa al Aswad [whom I also mention in my blog]. That does not mean that this torture portrayed here is acceptable. It is not a matter of one or the other.
When you have a serial killer, you do not become a serial killer to bring him to justice. You do not break the law like he did. And in this case, it is the international law and many other laws. What you would do is bring that person to justice through due process.
What you term ‘uncomfortable’ stress position is not about discomfort. That is doing us all a grave injustice. Try that ’stress’ position of a few minutes and let me know the outcome.