Latest Torture Stories

Previously, there had been a lack of reliable data in Germany on the long-term psychological consequences of political imprisonment in the GDR. Professor Andreas Maercker, Head of the Department of Psychopathology and Clinical Intervention at the University of Zurich, and private lecturer Dr. Matthias Schützwohl, Group Leader at the Clinic and Polyclinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Dresden University of Technology, interviewed 146 former political prisoners in the mid-1990s. 15 years...

LONDON, October 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the news release, "Tandem Law Welcomes the Decision of the Court to Recognise the Need to Compensate These Victims of Torture" issued on 5 Oct 2012 17:32 GMT, by Tandem Law over PR Newswire, we are advised by a representative of the company that PR Newswire included a link to a photo not in any way associated with the content of this release Complete, corrected release follows: Today's judgement put to bed the argument that...

**America's Wire Stories Are Available Free to All Media Outlets and Websites** WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's Wire today released a commentary by Bashe Yousuf, a torture victim from Somalia, who is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the law allowing victims of human rights violations to bring civil action against persecutors living in the U.S., as well as individuals and corporations who helped facilitate abuses. In the case, Kiobel v. Shell,...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF) re-filed its civil action on behalf of plaintiffs directly impacted by the violent crackdown used by the Syrian Army and other government forces against anti-government protesters and ordinary civilians. The defendants include: Syrian Arab Republic; State Military Intelligence Service; Ali Mumluk; Maher Al-Assad; Colonel Hafez Makhlouf; Jamil Hassan; Atif Najib; Ashef Shawkat (now deceased);...

What makes soldiers abuse prisoners? How could Nazi officials condemn thousands of Jews to gas chamber deaths? What's going on when underlings help cover up a financial swindle? For years, researchers have tried to identify the factors that drive people to commit cruel and brutal acts and perhaps no one has contributed more to this knowledge than psychological scientist Stanley Milgram. Just over 50 years ago, Milgram embarked on what were to become some of the most famous studies in...

Allegations of widespread, sustained torture and other human rights violations by the Government of Sudan and Janjaweed forces against non-Arabic-speaking civilians are corroborated in a study published in this week's PLoS Medicine. In the study medical forensic experts reviewed the medical records of patients seen at a clinic in Darfur. The authors, co-led by Alexander Tsai based at Harvard University and Mohammed Eisa based at Physicians for Human Rights, both in Cambridge, USA,...

While government officials have argued that "enhanced interrogation techniques" are necessary to protect American citizens, the effectiveness of such techniques has been debated. According to a recent study, when torture is used to elicit information, it is likely to be unexpectedly harsh yet ineffective. This study was published in a new article in Political Research Quarterly (PRQ) published by SAGE on behalf of the Western Political Science Association. John W. Schiemann, author of the...

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week The Pen, writer and director of "The Last War Crime" movie, appealed for a mobilization to protest YouTube's censorship of the preview waterboarding scene from this soon to be officially released feature film. YouTube's purported excuse for banning the video was they claimed it contained "nudity, pornography, or other sexually provocative content." Pen now reports that in response to more than 7,000 personal protest messages YouTube...

Use of torture around the world has not diminished but the techniques used have grown more complex and sophisticated, according to new research from Queen Mary, University of London. The study suggests that these emerging forms of torture, which include various types of rape, bestiality and witnessing violent acts, are experienced by people seeking asylum in the UK. In many cases the techniques cause no visible effect but are responsible for a variety of serious mental health problems....