201

Torture

On March 8, 2006 a report entitled

―

Country Reports

on Human Rights Practices

‖

was submitted to the

United States Congress by the Department of State

Included in the report was this paragraph on practices

in Libya:

The reported methods of torture and abuse included

chaining prisoners to a wall for hours, clubbing, applying

electric shock,

applying corkscrews to the back

, pouring

lemon juice in open wounds, breaking fingers and allowing

the joints to heal without medical care, suffocating with

plastic bags, prolonged deprivation of sleep, food, and

water, hanging by the wrists, suspension from a pole inserted between the knees and elbows,

cigarette burns, threats of dog attacks, and beatings on the soles of the feet.

Using corkscrews for torture is nothing new. In Chapter V (

―

The Moral Reformers

‖

) of

Stalky & Co.

(1899), Rudyard Kipling wrote

―

They were corkscrewed, and the torture of

the Corkscrew

—

this has nothing to do with corkscrews

—

is keener than the torture of

the Key.

‖

Later, in 1989, Valerie Sayers wrote in

How I Got Him Back, Or, Under the Cold Moon's

Shine

―

If I'd had Ethan's Swiss Army knife, I would have opened up the corkscrew, the

torture tool, and stuck it straight into his chest.

‖

More corkscrew torture is found in

The Annual Register of World Events: A Record of

World Events 1989

. Alan Day and Verena Hoffman

wrote

―

The passengers on board a packet bound to

St. Marc were seized by the brigands, who, among

the means of torture they employed had recourse

to corkscrews, for the purpose of depriving them

of their eyes.

‖

(1990)

And still more

Argentina's Lost Patrol: Armed

Struggle, 1969-1979

. María José Moyano wrote

―

Other torture methods were the airplane, the

burial and the corkscrew.

‖

(1995)