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Water torture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Water torture is torture using water, which can take several forms. Because no external marks are left on victims of water torture, it has been a favoured method of torture in various countries and political regimes.
The torture has notably been used against political prisoners.
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In this form of water torture, water is forced down the throat and into the stomach. It was used as a legal torture and execution method by the courts in France in the 17th and 18th century, was employed against Americans and Chinese during World War II by the Japanese, and was also used against Filipinos by American Forces During the Philippine-American War. The Human Rights Watch organization reports that in the 2000s, security forces in Uganda sometimes forced a detainee to lie face up under an open water spigot.[1]
Waterboarding refers to any torture where some water is poured over the face or head of the victim, in order to invoke their instinctive fear of drowning.
In many cases people had very cold water poured over them, to make a whipping more painful. The water also made it easier to pierce the skin.
The "Chinese water torture" was a fictional creation of early 20th-century adventure stories and Harry Houdini's Chinese Water Torture Cell and the occasional movie serials, in which water is intermittently dripped onto the face or forehead of a captive. However, there is no evidence it has ever been used in the real world.
In this form of torture, a victim would be repeatedly immersed in water, then pulled out and asked to confess to a crime. Those who failed to confess would be immersed again.
Torturers might also:
- immerse a victim in very cold water, or drench the victim in very cold water from a hose, inducing hypothermia
- pour very cold and hot water upon the victim in turn
- The Falun Gong have accused the Chinese government of using "water dungeons" on jailed practitioners. A water dungeon is simply a pool of filthy water in which a caged detainee is immersed neck-deep for days or weeks at a time. After a few days in a water dungeon the victim will be covered in festering sores and will not be able to move most major muscles for 2 to 3 weeks.
