In one of the most widely disseminated images from the Abu Ghuraib scandal, the thuggish grinning faces of Specialists Sabrina Harman and Charles Garner peer out with an evil force. Each is offering a "thumbs-up" gesture as if posing for a pride of performance award.In the background is a cellophane wrapped, ice packed corpse of one Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi who was tortured to death during interrogation at Abu Ghuraib prison. The U.S. military ruled the death a homicide.
In February 2005, it was revealed that he died after a horrible half-hour session of pain. He was suspended from a barred window by his wrists, which were bound behind his back, in a hideous torture method known as the strappado.
Strappado is a form of torture in which a victim is suspended in the air by means of a rope attached to his hands which are tied behind his back. Weights may be added to the body. Now adopted by the American interrogators, the technique is also known as Palestinian Hanging, or reverse hanging, and is frequently used by Israeli troops on Palestinian prisoners.
In strappado, the victim has his arms tied behind his back with a large rope tied to his wrists and passed over a beam or a hook on the roof. The torturer pulls on this rope until the victim is hanging from his arms. The full weight of the victim’s body is then supported by the extended and internally-rotated shoulder sockets. Since the victim has his hands tied behind the back, this causes a very intense pain. When allowed to continue for a longer time, if not death, a painful joints dislocation of both arms is the sure outcome.
Not withstanding the legal acrobatics that the current US administration has gone over in defining torture, it is universally understood to be the infliction of severe physical or psychological torment as an expression of cruelty, a means of terrorization, retribution or punishment, or as an illegal tool for the extraction of information or confessions. Period.
Torture is also universally considered to be an extreme violation of human rights, as stated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Signatories of the 3rd and 4th Geneva Conventions agree not to torture protected persons (enemy civilians and POWs) in armed conflicts. Signatories of the UN Convention Against Torture too concur not to intentionally inflict severe pain or suffering on anyone, to obtain information or a confession, to punish them, or to coerce them or a third person.
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