Voices of torture victims
Victims tell their stories and how torture has affected their lives.
"There are no cameras here"
"The thing about torture – and poverty – is that it steals a place in your mind that is meant for your development, your growth, your enjoyment. All that space is taken." A testimony by Kenyan writer and torture survivor Philo Ikonya.
Passing through the marketplace on her way home from work, a young Kenyan woman is caught up in a police fight and arrested. This moving testimony describes her brutal treatment at the hands of the authorities, and subsequent struggle to seek justice. “I get energy from knowing they can help me,” Laetitia says of the Independent Medico-Legal Unit, the IRCT member rehabilitation centre supporting her care.
Retaining his dignity
"I believe that knowledge of the horrific things going on around the world teaches us to prevent them and find new ways of acting," says Hector Rosas, a Chilean torture survivor who recounts the horrible abuse he endured during three stints in prison, and explains how therapeutic treatment at an IRCT member centre in Sweden has allowed him to talk about his experiences and move forward.
"They must be held accountable"
An Afghan torture survivor who has received treatment at an IRCT member centre testifies about his experience of torture in prison, the healing process and the action that is needed to fight for truth and to remedy injustice. "I want this to be known," says Mohamed Anwar Yar.
"Dehumanisation is totally unacceptable "
Brian Mkululu Mphahlele, from Cape Town, South Africa, tells of his sufferings in prison due to support to the liberation movement and how The Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture, an IRCT member centre, has helped him "to cope with life".
From conflict to rehabilitation
Ahmet Lugani, from Kosovo, is now free from the nightmares that constantly recalled him the spring of 1999, when he was tortured by Serb paramilitary forces.
Coming to the other side
A victim of the Saddan Hussein regime, in Iraq, tells about the marks left by torture and how the IRCT has helped her in rebuilding a new life.
Life's new dimensions
Three clients from SACH – Struggle for Change, in Pakistan, tell about their rehabilitation process. SACH is a member of the IRCT network of centres and programmes.
A victim of torture in Mexico testifies
Norma Aide Jiménez Osorio was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted by the police in the Mexican town of San Salvador Atenco in May 2006. In a personal testimony, which the IRCT published under her request, Norma Aide Jiménez Osorio told about the brutality she endured.
