In recent years, more and more evidence of torture has begun to appear, which is used by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The arsenal of methods of influencing a prisoner or interrogated person is extremely wide: torture with an uncomfortable posture, sleep deprivation, music, white noise and other methods of barbaric torture of a person.
Torture rules
Torture is regulated by a special methodological manual - the CIA Interrogation Manual. A detailed study of these practices was published in 2014 by the US Senate.
The pages of the 528-page document describe the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, implying psychological and, albeit less often, physical impact. But still, the main purpose of the tortures used by the CIA is mental terror over a person, breaking his will.
Uncomfortable pose torture
The person is forced to take the most uncomfortable position and is in this position for several hours
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This leads to the fact that the unfortunate person, on a subconscious level, begins to regard himself as the source of pain and inconvenience, and not the interrogator. The consequence is growing psychological discomfort and general depletion of the resources of the nervous system. Combined with harsh conditions of detention, such torture allows investigators to achieve maximum results with minimum cost.
It should be noted that in addition to damage to the nervous system, long-term body position in an uncomfortable position can lead to vascular thrombosis, impaired motor motility and other adverse consequences for the body. All together this can cause extreme exhaustion of the body and death of a person.
Back in 2005, the Associated Press announced that a prisoner of one of the secret CIA prisons, Abu Ghraib (Iraq), Manadel al-Jamali, had died during torture. A photograph of the unfortunate man with his wrists tied behind his back was published in the media. US Army soldiers posed against the background of an Iraqi.
Sleep deprivation
One of the most common forms of torture is long-term sleep deprivation. Sleep-depriving techniques can include loud music, bright lights, and placing an inmate on a pedestal step from which he painfully falls in the event of a nap and loss of balance. It has been proven that sleep deprivation leads to serious hormonal disruption in the body, hallucinations and mental disorders, and most importantly makes the prisoner more accommodating.
Music torture
Sound torture is the impact of loud music on a person. The CIA's song list usually includes hard rock songs. Scientists note that a person who has never been fond of such music before is not able to withstand it day and night. A mental disorder occurs, the body and brain lose their functions, the will to resist breaks down.
Such methods were especially popular at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. In 2008, the human rights organization Reprieve released a list of 33 songs dubbed "Better Guantanamo Hits" - the songs most often used to torture prisoners.
Along with musical compositions, the so-called white noise is sometimes used - the very unpleasant and eerie rustling and crackling that a radio or TV makes when there is no signal or a channel is being searched.
Sensory deprivation
This is the most extreme form of psychological torture. For example, a blindfold or earplug deprives a person of the influence of the external environment on his hearing and visual aids. A person cannot see, hear, and if he is connected, then touch something. Sensory deprivation causes a growing sense of anxiety, which is extremely difficult to experience. A person feels completely "lost" in time and space, and therefore completely helpless.
For example, US citizen Jose Padilla, accused in 2007 of aiding terrorists, was subjected to sensory deprivation for several weeks. He was kept in a cell without natural light, where there was no calendar or clock. According to the lawyer of the unfortunate man, his client was so exhausted that he decided that the lawyer himself was part of his torture.
Drowning
One of the most brutal torture used by the CIA is simulated drowning. The person is placed face up, tied up, blindfolded and periodically sprinkled on his face from a bucket. Thus, he has the feeling that he is drowning.
At the psychological level, those who had gone through the torture showed a strong suppression of the will, at the physical level - brain damage from oxygen starvation and lung injury.
In 2015, the US Senate Intelligence Committee published a report containing information about the "work" of the CIA with the detainees. Among other things, the document contained information about the Pakistani Abu Zubayd. In a prison in Thailand, he was beaten against the walls, nailed into a coffin, and then simulated drowning until the unfortunate gag reflex. In total, Zubaydah "drowned" 83 times.
The existence of such a sadistic practice was acknowledged at the highest level in April 2016, when then-CIA chief John Brennan pledged to no longer use imitation drowning. Whether the high-ranking official kept his word or not is unknown.
Ivan Proshkin