Darfur Survival Campaign

Sudan Journal

Torture in Darfur

One of the other presenters at the Amel Center training was their Director for Treatment, Dr. Mohamed Ahmed. The following is a transcript of Dr. Ahmed's remarks.

I am going to discuss torture in prisons and the conditions of prisoners.

If we go to the definition of torture, the conditions of prison itself here are the equivalent of torture. The purpose of torture is to humiliate the victim. Innocent civilians have come during course of battles, hit in course of attacks—some have been beaten up by different people either with ends of rifles, or with cables or wires. Some people were subjected to this. Some people have been severely burned; some have been referred to Amel in Khartoum to be treated. Others had bone problems, so they have been referred to orthopedic surgeons. Some have had severe psychological trauma. Some are unable to speak altogether—psychogenic consequences. My last patient was a female university student and as a result of the trauma, she was totally blind, and we had to refer her to a psychiatrist. In addition, people have cigarette burns on their bodies. All this has been documented.

This is dangerous and serious. Rebels and fighters have the arms. The civilians are innocent and this is our responsibility. We have to be one community, and we have to stand against this together. We are fully qualified professional people. If we don't address this as professionals, we will lose our society.

Another problem is what happens to people during their daily movements. Women are most victimized because they are assaulted in the course of their daily activities. In 2005, in the outskirts of camps, women have been attacked. Even in camps, they've been attacked. In one instance recently, more than eighteen women were gang raped. Eight or nine of these cases have been documented. The rapists fled the scene. Not only have they been raped, their genitalia have also been mutilated. They are also subjected to verbal abuse and assault. All of this is meant to degrade the dignity of the person.

Some people are subjected to beating, men are whipped and given lashes, some are tortured at gunpoint. Worse, some people are kidnapped, and no one knows what happened to them. Their families tell us they have "disappeared," and no one knows what happens. In the Kailek area, people have been subjected to sexual slavery. All of these are documented incidents. Some people are blindfolded, and they are taken to unknown locations and asked to carry cargo. Some have had their hands attached to their legs and then were hanged from trees, and some of them have been totally paralyzed as a result.

I also want to talk about what has happened to people in detention centers—either at the hands of military intelligence, security forces, or police forces. Most people say that the best treatment they got was from police forces. There, they are usually deprived of food and water and maybe beaten, but military intelligence detainees are often tied up and lose consciousness, are given only one meal a day, and are held for many weeks. They can use the toilet only in morning and evening. If you see the detention centers, you will see there are more than twenty people held in 2X2 meter cells.

Recently people came from camps where people have been forced to drink their own urine. You cannot believe this if you don't meet the person. It causes diarrhea. Some other groups who have come from north Darfur were exposed to rape inside the detention center. Some people were forced to sit naked on chili or hot pepper. Sometimes the chili is burnt and you are put inside a very hot room. We had to transfer them for psychological treatment.

The most serious cases involve citizens who are being forced into slavery. The humiliation is more painful than any physical punishment. The degradation and loss of dignity is the worst. When people are transferred from detention center to prison, the treatment may be less severe there, and food and other support is the most serious problem they have to deal with. Hunger is a major problem. There is limited capacity in the detention centers.

There are also underground prisons where people are placed in a hole in the ground under a zinc sheet. They are taken out at night and tortured and then returned to these underground prisons. Some people cannot even go to toilet except in evening. When they tried to flee, they were slaughtered. In one case, a government officer in charge stopped this. This is in the Sudan where we claim to be an Islamic state. More than 90% has happened at hand of Government of Sudan forces or Janjaweed forces. Some people have been detained and tortured by rebel forces.

In one of my rounds, a woman came who had no physical symptoms. She was in state of severe depression. I started to talk to her and after some time I realized she was exposed to repeated rape. In the center, we could rehabilitate her socially, and she could marry and lead a normal life. However there are some people who could not make it. They had to leave Sudan because they have been rejected by the community. These are difficult questions that we have to answer. It is difficult to differentiate between psychological and physical treatment and how to reintegrate people into the society. Article 149 of Sudan's Criminal Code does not recognize rape unless there are four male witnesses. If the victim goes to a court of law, she will be punished as one who is sinful. This is a very difficult problem in a Muslim community. This has deep social ramifications.

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