THE INDEPENDENT
Amnesty film shows agony of US detention techniques
By Terri Judd
Published: 10 September 2007
Forced on to the balls of his feet, bent double with his hands handcuffed behind his back, the near-naked man shook violently. From beneath the hood, muted moans were audible. It seemed obscene to stare at this apparently frail, vulnerable man, caught in a stress position reminiscent of the images of Iraqi prisoners being interrogated by US soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. Yet this was not torture. It was art.
In an attempt to draw attention to human rights abuses, Amnesty International has filmed a dancer in the positions captives have been forced to adopt by US troops. The resulting film makes shocking viewing. During a break in filming, Jiva Parthipan, a Sri Lankan performance artist, appeared relieved as he rubbed his limbs, which were aching after just a couple of minutes in a position that suspects in President George Bush's "war on terror" are expected to endure for hours.
The star of the Amnesty International film, which is being released online next month to highlight the agony of such interrogation techniques, said he found the experience painful, both physically and psychologically. In secret jails across the world, Amnesty insists, captives in the fight against terrorism are expected to maintain these poses. They are not considered torture, simply "enhanced interrogation techniques". Alfred McCoy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued recently that the photographs from Abu Ghraib reflected standard CIA torture techniques of " stress positions, sensory deprivation, and sexual humiliation".
In August, President Bush issued an order decreeing that Article 3 of the Third Geneva Convention – which prohibits the humiliating or degrading treatment of prisoners of war – should apply to the CIA's detention and interrogation programme. But Amnesty believes the order does not go far enough in specifying what constitutes degrading treatment.
It is calling for an end to all secret detentions, as well as for detainees to be given access to lawyers, medical care and monitors. It wants all allegations of enforced disappearance, torture and ill treatment levelled at the CIA to be investigated independently.
Amnesty's film, entitled Waiting For The Guards, forms the backbone of a new campaign the charity hopes will draw attention to such interrogation techniques. The film, by Marc Hawker and Ishbel Whitaker, does not attempt to document the mental torture of being kept in a secret location with no contact with the outside world, simply the physical agony of such allegedly innocuous methods. The crew expected it to be an arduous task but were shocked and disturbed by how quickly Parthipan found it impossible to endure the stress position.
"He is somebody who is physically fit but suffered excruciating pain. It was shocking how real and visceral the process was," said Hawker, adding: "He was surprised himself just how quickly the position took over. He was in a lot of pain and felt a lot of emotion.
"He was in a safe environment but we said that, if you were just off a jet, did not know where you were or what your future held, how psychologically tortuous it would be."
Richard Lowdon, the actor who plays the interrogator, added: "It was quite unpleasant watching Jiva. There was something unbearable about it. It is degrading to the person who is doing it, as well as to the person to whom it is done. It is very dehumanising."
Amnesty hopes its campaign will prompt people to object to such practices. It recently named 38 men and a woman it claims were whisked away on secret CIA "rendition" flights and disappeared into prisons worldwide. The charity has spoken to former detainees, such as the British al-Qa'ida suspect Moazzam Begg, who was held in the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"The suggestion is that they suffer a bit of discomfort, when in fact they endure quite severe pain," said Sara MacNeice, Amnesty's campaigns co-ordinator. "We are sending the message that this is ill treatment, but we should be calling it by its rightful name."
CAMPAIGN MAGAZINE
Amnesty wages battle on the war on terror
by Larissa Vince
LONDON - Amnesty International is to launch a hard-hitting new campaign against human rights abuses by governments performed in the name of the 'war on terror'.
A series of three poster executions, created by Drugstore, uses images so graphic that the UK's two biggest poster operators, JCDecaux and Clear Channel, have refused to carry them. The 48 sheets, which feature scenes of torture, illegal detention and bombsites, will run on sites owned by Titan Outdoor from the beginning of next week.
Using the strapline "unsubscribe", the posters urge people to visit a social networking site, www.unsubscribe-me.org, where they can remove their name from the electoral register as a sign of their protest against the war on terror - which, according to the site "has been used to justify acts of torture, 'rendition', discrimination and unlawful detention."
DarkFibre working with Drugstore on the whole campaign has created three short films, the first of which will be released in arthouse cinemas from early 2008. The film, "Waiting for the guards", shows a blindfolded, handcuffed man stripped to his underwear and crouching on a cardboard box - the so-called "stress position" used as part of the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques".
The campaign has also enlisted the support of Moazzam Begg, the British man held without charge for over two years at Guantanamo Bay. Begg said: "Removing freedoms gives rise to hostility and leads to terrorism; terrorism allows governments to justify the restriction of liberty. We must unsubscribe to both."
CREATIVITY ONLINE
Amnesty rails against human rights abuse.
With the human rights abuse stories at both Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo as springboards, Amnesty International UK is highlighting this controversial issue with its new campaign dubbed "Unsubscribe."
Playing off the familiar email list term, the campaign petition encourages concerned visitors to "remove" their name, so to speak, in the hopes of de-authorizing "Government acts of torture, rendition and illegal detention perpetuated under cover of fighting terrorism."
The centerpiece of the interactive portion of "Unsubscribe" is the startling two-minute short film, "Waiting for the Guards." Stark and grim, the film spotlights "belly slap," one of a handful of commonly-known interrogation methods used by the government. While it features a sweating, hooded prisoner dressed in only underwear, handcuffed behind his back and standing upon two boxes convulsing with fear, the more unsettling moments of the video focus on the interrogator himself, a well-dressed Brit who's engaged in cutesy phone chatter with his daughter before heading back to do his deed.
After viewing the film, visitors can then click through and if so inclined, join the cause and enter their name and email, which will lead them to a social networking site for "Unsubscribe" and other assorted goods like widgets pertaining to the campaign.
DOWNLOAD a larger Quicktime version here (58mb).
JOIN US at the Waiting For The Guards myspace site. Become our friend.
JOIN IN with the BEBO discusion on the film and campaign here.
DOWNLOAD a wiget version here to put on you website.