Rilek1Corner

Tag: torture

  • Jufrie Mahmood: Don’t Question The Loyalty Of Malays To Singapore

    Jufrie Mahmood: Don’t Question The Loyalty Of Malays To Singapore

    During the war my late father, who was then an officer in the Civil Defence was busy risking his life evacuating people from buildings bombed by the Japanese warplanes.

    Compare this with what the father of someone in the ruling party did, collaborating with the Japanese invaders while many of our countrymen were being tortured and executed. For what my father did he was honoured by the Queen, head of the government of the day, with a medal (MBE) while the father of that person was posthumously honoured by the Japanese government for his services.

    And I am a Malay and they dare question my and my community’s loyalty to this nation.

    That is where it hurts!

     

    Source: Mohamed Jufrie Mahmood

  • Gang Rape, Torture Claims As Rohingyas Flee Myanmar

    Gang Rape, Torture Claims As Rohingyas Flee Myanmar

    TEKNAF, Bangladesh: Horrifying stories of gang rape, torture and murder are emerging from among the thousands of desperate Rohingya migrants who have pushed into Bangladesh in the past few days to escape unfolding chaos in Myanmar.

    Up to 30,000 of the impoverished ethnic group have fled their homes, the United Nations says, after troops poured into the narrow strip where they live earlier this month.

    Bangladesh has resisted urgent international appeals to open its border to avert a humanitarian crisis, instead telling Myanmar it must do more to prevent the stateless Muslim minority from entering.

    The scale of human suffering was becoming clear Thursday, as desperate people like Mohammad Ayaz told how troops attacked his village and killed his pregnant wife.

    Cradling his two-year-old son, he said military men killed at least 300 men in the village market and gang-raped dozens of women before setting fire to around 300 houses, Muslim-owned shops and the mosque where he served as imam.

    “They shot dead my wife, Jannatun Naim. She was 25 and seven months pregnant. I took refuge at a canal with my two-year-old son, who was hit by a rifle butt,” Ayaz told AFP, pointing to a cut on the boy’s forehead.

    Ayaz sold his watch and shoes to pay for the journey and has taken shelter along with at least 200 of his neighbours at a camp for unregistered Rohingya refugees.

    ‘DEEP CONCERN’

    Many of those seeking shelter in Bangladesh say they have walked for days and used rickety boats to cross into the neighbouring country, where hundreds of thousands of registered Rohingya refugees have been living for decades.

    The Rohingya are loathed by many in majority Buddhist Myanmar who see them as illegal immigrants and call them “Bengali”, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

    Most live in impoverished western Rakhine state, but are denied citizenship and smothered by restrictions on movement and work.

    As the crisis deepened, Bangladesh said late Wednesday it had summoned the Myanmar ambassador to express “deep concern”.

    “Despite our border guards’ sincere effort to prevent the influx, thousands of distressed Myanmar citizens including women, children and elderly people continue to cross (the) border into Bangladesh,” it said. “Thousands more have been reported to be gathering at the border crossing.”

    TORTURE AND RAPE

    Since the latest violence flared up, Bangladesh’s secular government has been under intense pressure to open its border to prevent a humanitarian disaster.

    Instead, Bangladesh border guards have intensified patrols and coast guards have deployed extra ships. Officials say they have stopped around a thousand Rohingya at the border since Monday.

    Farmer Deen Mohammad was among the thousands who evaded the patrols, sneaking into the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf four days ago with his wife, two of their children and three other families.

    “They (Myanmar’s military) took my two boys, aged nine and 12 when they entered my village. I don’t know what happened to them,” Mohammad, 50, told AFP. “They took women in rooms and then locked them from inside. Up to 50 women and girls of our village were tortured and raped.”

    Mohammad said houses in his village were burned, echoing similar testimony from other recent arrivals.

    Human Rights Watch said Monday it had identified more than 1,000 houses in Rohingya villages that had been razed in northwestern Myanmar using satellite images.

    The Myanmar military has denied burning villages and even blamed the Rohingya themselves.

    Jannat Ara said she fled with neighbours after her father was arrested and her 17-year-old sister disappeared, she believes raped and killed by the army.

    “We heard that they tortured her to death. I don’t know what happened to my mother,” said Ara, who entered Bangladesh on Tuesday.

    Rohingya community leaders said hundreds of families had taken shelter in camps in the Bangladeshi border towns of Teknaf and Ukhia, many hiding for fear they would be sent them back to Myanmar.

    Police on Wednesday detained 70 Rohingya, including women and children, who they say they will send back across the border.

    “They handcuffed even young girls and children and then took them away with a view to pushing them back to Myanmar,” said one community leader who asked not to be named, adding they faced “certain death” if made to return.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsaia.com

  • Ibu Allayarham Daniel, Teman Lelakinya, Dihukum Penjara Antara 10 Hingga 11 Tahun

    Ibu Allayarham Daniel, Teman Lelakinya, Dihukum Penjara Antara 10 Hingga 11 Tahun

    Pasangan yang menyeksa seorang budak lelaki berusia dua tahun hingga mati, dijatuhi hukuman penjara hari ini (5 Julai).

    Ibu mangsa, Zaidah, 41 tahun, dihukum penjara 11 tahun. Teman lelakinya, Zaini Jamari, 46 tahun, dihukum penjara 10 tahun dan 12 sebatan rotan.

    Pasangan itu, yang mempunyai bayi berusia 1 tahun, mengaku bersalah bulan lalu masing-masing atas satu tuduhan menyebabkan kecederaan teruk (grievous hurt) hingga menyebabkan kematian dan tiga tuduhan penderaan kanak-kanak.

    Lagi 26 dan 18 dakwaan penderaan kanak-kanak masing-masing dipertimbangkan terhadap pasangan itu ketika hukuman dijatuhkan.

    Sepanjang lima minggu sebelum mangsa akhirnya maut, Mohamed Daniel Mohamad Nasser, 2 tahun, didera ibunya sendiri dan teman lelaki wanita itu.

    Pasangan itu, kedua-duamya pekerja pembersihan, menendang, menampar dan memijak Daniel setiap hari dan memaksa budak itu berdiri dengan kedua-dua tangan diletakkan di atas kepalanya selama berjam-jam lamanya, dengan hanya berpakaian lampin. Mereka juga memaksa budak itu makan cili kering.

    Penderaan Daniel terbongkar juga apabila kanak-kanak itu meninggal dunia akibat kecederaan teruk pada 23 November 2015, setelah menderita didera selama berjam-jam sehari sebelumnya.

    Timbalan Pendakwa Raya Claire Poh menyifatkan penderaan fizikal, mental dan emosi kanak-kanak dua tahun yang “tidak boleh mempertahankan diri dan tidak mampu bersuara tentang penderaan itu” sebagai “kejam dan tidak berperikemanusiaan.”

    HARI TERAKHIR DANIEL

    Sekitar 10.00 pagi, apabila budak itu enggan makan sarapan, ibunya, Zaidah menamparnya. Dia memberikan mangkuk sarapan itu kepada Zaini, teman lelakinya, yang cuba memberi budak itu makan.

    Apabila mangsa tetap enggan makan, kedua-dua Zaidah dan Zaini menamparnya beberapa kali dan wanita itu juga memukul bahagian belakang tubuh budak itu, hingga mangsa terjatuh ke lantai. Apabila Daniel tidak bangun dari lantai, Zaidah memijak dada anaknya itu sebelum menarik lengannya.

    Budak itu makan dua atau tiga sudu makanan, namun enggan makan lebih banyak daripada itu. Dia kemudian disuruh berdiri di satu sudut.

    Sekitar 7.00 malam pada hari itu, kanak-kanak itu sandar pada katil kerana letih setelah berdiri sepanjang hari. Apabila pasangan itu melihat keadaan budak itu, mereka menampar Daniel, yang baring di atas lantai dan menutup matanya.

    Zaini membawa budak itu ke dapur dan memaksanya makan dua sudu cili kering, sebelum memaksanya terus berdiri di ruang tamu.

    Pada sekitar 8.45 malam kemudian, Daniel menjadi lemah dan tidak mampu terus berdiri. Ibunya mencubit tubuhnya dan pipinya dan menamparnya beberapa kali.

    Mahkamah diberitahu Zaidah menyangka budak itu berpura-pura lemah dan mengadu kepada teman lelakinya.

    Zaini menampar budak itu, memijak perutnya hingga Daniel terjatuh ke lantai dan terhentak kepalanya. Zaini kemudian memaksa budak itu makan cili buat kali kedua hari itu.

    Keesokan harinya, pasangan itu tidak mampu mengejutkan budak itu, dan dua rakan mereka yang tinggal bersama mereka menelefon ambulans. Daniel disahkan meninggal dunia pada 9.11 pagi.

    Apabila ditanya para paramedik dan polis mengapa tubuh mangsa berlebam-lebam, pasangan itu berbohong dan berkata budak itu biasa mencubit dirinya sendiri, dan jatuh tersungkur di tandas.

    Pendakwa raya mengambil masa beberapa minit untuk membacakan di mahkamah senarai lebih 40 kecederaan yang didapati pada tubuh mangsa semasa bedah siasat. Mangsa juga didapati mengalami keretakan tulang rusuk dan pendarahan dalam otak.

    Atas kesalahan menyebabkan kecederaan teruk hingga menyebabkan kematian, pasangan itu boleh dipenjara sehingga 10 tahun dan didenda atau disebat.

    Atas kesalahan penderaan kanak-kanak, mereka boleh dipenjara sehingga empat tahun dan/atau didenda sehingga S$4,000 bagi setiap tuduhan.

    Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

  • Father Of Abused Toddler, Daniel: I Never Got To See My Son Alive

    Father Of Abused Toddler, Daniel: I Never Got To See My Son Alive

    He was in prison when his son was born.

    Day after day, he counted down the days to when he could hold his boy in his arms.

    But when Mr Mohamad Nasser Abdul Gani could finally do that, it was too late.

    The only time he got to hold Mohamad Daniel Mohamad Nasser was when he was about to bury him.

    His son died on Nov 23 last year, about a month before his third birthday, after 25 days of sustained abuse by his mother, Zaidah, 41, and her live-in boyfriend, Zaini Jamari, 46.

    Choking back tears, Mr Nasser, 41, told The New Paper yesterday: “I never got to see him alive.

    “The only time I held him in my arms, he was a lifeless corpse.”


    Mr Mohamad Nasser Abdul Gani. TNP PHOTO: JEREMY LONG

    He said he had spent 18 months behind bars from December 2012 to June 2014 for drug-related offences.

    Two months before he went in, Mr Nasser was informed by Zaidah, whom he had married in Batam and later divorced, that she was pregnant with his child.

    A few weeks into his sentence, Mr Nasser said an officer asked him to sign a document, which informed him that he was the father to a boy named Daniel.

    This gave him something to look forward to after serving his time.

    “I told myself that I would find my son after I got out,” said Mr Nasser, who works as a cleaner.

    LONG SEARCH

    But after his release, he found out that Zaidah was no longer living at her old address.

    Making it his top priority to find Daniel, Mr Nasser reached out to Zaidah’s friends, tried all possible phone numbers he could think of and even visited places he thought she might frequent.

    A year of searching yielded no results. None of his friends or acquaintances knew where Zaidah and Daniel were.


    Mohamad Daniel Mohamad Nasser died about a month before his third birthday. PHOTO: ABDU MANAF AL ANSARI

    Frustrated by each failed attempt to find his boy, he started losing hope of ever meeting Daniel.

    Mr Nasser, who has two older children from a previous marriage, said: “I was not even given a chance to meet my own son.

    “I did everything I could, but they could not be found anywhere. I thought that I would never see or hear about Daniel ever again.”

    About five months later, on the evening of Nov 26 last year, he finally got news about his son. It was a call from a police officer, who asked if he had a son named Daniel.

    Mr Nasser excitedly said yes, thinking that after more than two years, they would finally get to meet. But what he thought was good news brought his world crashing down.

    The officer told him the heartbreaking news that Daniel had died after being abused.

    “I did not even get to see Daniel alive, and now they called me to identify his dead body,” Mr Nasser said.

    Putting aside his anguish, Mr Nasser went to the mortuary the next day and saw his son for the first time.

    It left him in tears.

    CUTS AND BRUISES

    “There were cuts and bruises everywhere on his tiny body,” he said.

    “It broke my heart to look at him, my own flesh and blood, knowing that he had been hurt and tortured so badly.”

    Mr Nasser collected Daniel’s body on Nov 30.

    It was to be the first and last day that he would get to hold his son.

    That same afternoon, he and seven of his family members buried Daniel.


    Mr Mohamad Nasser Abdul Gani (extreme right) with his family members at the burial site of his son. PHOTO: ABDU MANAF AL ANSARI

    His brother, Mr Abdu Manaf Al Ansari, said that though they did not get to know Daniel, the family loved him and wanted to make sure he was given the proper last rites.

    “We are the paternal side that Daniel could have grown up with,” he told The New Paper.

    “Daniel was not an outcast, not from a broken family. He had a good family, only that he was denied true love from us.”

    Asked what he would have told his son if he were still alive, Mr Nasser broke down before saying he would have promised Daniel that he would be the best father possible.

    “He was my own son, I did not get to do anything for him, did not get to hold him, or tell him that I love him,” he said.

    “I would have given anything for the opportunity to take care of him.”

    I did not even get to see Daniel alive, and now they called me to identify his dead body.

    – Mr Mohamad Nasser Abdul Gani

    We are the paternal side that Daniel could have grown up with. Daniel was not an outcast, not from a broken family. He had a good family, only that he was denied true love from us.

    – Daniel’s uncle, Mr Abdu Manaf Al Ansari

    ABOUT THE CASE

    Mohamad Daniel Mohamad Nasser, who died about a month short of his third birthday, was abused for 25 days over a 35-day period.

    During that time, he was kicked and slapped almost every day by his pregnant mother and her boyfriend.

    Cleaners Zaidah, 41, and Zaini Jamari, 46, also made Daniel stand with his hands on his head while wearing only a diaper as punishment.

    They also forced him to eat spoonfuls of dried chilli.

    He was found motionless on Nov 23, 2015, the morning after he fell and hit his head on the floor when Zaini kicked him.

    An autopsy found that the cause of death was bleeding in the brain.

    Last Thursday, Zaidah and Zaini were each convicted of three charges of child abuse and one count each of causing grievous hurt.

    Zaidah admitted to 26 other charges of abusing Daniel, and Zaini to another 18 counts.

    The couple will be sentenced next Tuesday.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Guantanamo Detainee Forced To Have Sex With Female Interrogators

    Guantanamo Detainee Forced To Have Sex With Female Interrogators

    The former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be charged with conspiracy to torture in light of the alleged ill-treatment – including sexual abuse – documented by Mohamedou Ould Slahi during his 12 years detention without charge in Guantanamo Bay, his lawyer has claimed.

    Mr Slahi’s Guantanamo Diary, published today, is the only account written by a detainee still held in the controversial American military prison on Cuba. The 44-year-old describes how he was told he would be taught about “great American sex” and then he was tortured and forced to have sexual intercourse with female interrogators.

    He describes how he was subjected to brutal treatment, including being kept in a “frozen room” for hours on end, forced to drink salt water, and repeatedly beaten.

    “I was literally living in terror,” he writes, adding that he was denied sleep for more than two months. “For the next 70 days I wouldn’t know the sweetness of sleeping: interrogation 24 hours a day, three and sometimes four shifts a day.”

    His allegations of psychological and physical torture suffered come just weeks after a US Senate report revealed the widespread use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” by the CIA.

    In an interview with The Independent, his lawyer Nancy Hollander said: “The convention against torture, of which the United States is a party, requires that countries prosecute those who have tortured – why hasn’t anyone been prosecuted? I’m talking about Secretary of State Rumsfeld – he’s the one who signed the orders to torture Mohamedou… he should be charged with conspiracy to commit torture.”

    Mr Slahi’s legal team have spent years battling to get a redacted version of his diary, regarded as a ‘secret’ document by the US government, released. Described by John Le Carre as a “vision of hell, beyond Orwell, beyond Kafka,” the inside account of life at Guantanamo is prompting renewed calls for his release.

    The actors Colin Firth, Stephen Fry and Riz Ahmed, along with musician Brian Eno and novelist Elif Shafak, are among those backing a new campaign being launched today to free the 44-year-old detainee.

    Mr Slahi fought with al-Qaeida in Afghanistan when they were being backed by the US in their fight to oust the Soviet regime, but claims he left the group in 1992.

    He was arrested in November 2001 in his home country, Mauritania, and taken to Amman by the Jordanian military – where he was interrogated and held for more than seven months. He was then ‘renditioned’ by the CIA to Bagram air base in Afghanistan, and taken to Guantanamo Bay in August 2002, suspected of involvement in a plot to bomb Los Angeles in 1999.

    He has never been charged with any crime, and a US federal judge ordered his release four years ago. But an appeal against the decision by the US government means he is one of 122 inmates remaining at the prison – including Briton Shaker Aamer.

    Teaching himself English with the help of his guards, in 2005 Mr Slahi wrote a 466-page draft of his diary by hand. It details his suffering at the hands of his interrogators. This was not confined to physical beatings, he writes. On one occasion, he recalls in a partly redacted account how two female interrogators allegedly sexually abused him.

    ‘As soon as I stood up, the two _______ took off their blouses, and started to talk all kind of dirty stuff you can imagine, which I minded less.

    “What hurt me most was them forcing me to take part in a sexual threesome in the most degrading manner. What many _______ don’t realize is that men get hurt the same as women if they’re forced to have sex, maybe more due to the traditional position of the man,” he writes.

    “Both _______ stuck on me, literally one on the front and the other older _______ stuck on my back rubbing ____ whole body on mine. At the same time they were talking dirty to me, and playing with my sexual parts.”

    Mr Slahi remembers another time when a female interrogator told him: “If you start to cooperate, I’m gonna stop harassing you. Otherwise I’ll be doing the same with you and worse every day…Having sex with somebody is not considered torture.”

    The use of sex to degrade and humiliate him was “part of their enhanced interrogation techniques” according to Ms Hollander.

    “In many ways I believe they were using people like Mohamedou to experiment, what will happen when we do these things to people? Will it work or can they resist it?” she said. “But what I believe was the worst in many ways was the fake letter that they brought, saying that they were going to bring his mother to Guantanamo if he didn’t tell them what they wanted to hear.

    “In many ways that was the worst for him, the fear that his mother was going to be arrested and captured and tortured, and he started telling them anything they wanted to hear, which he made up.”

    Ms Hollander has been a regular visitor to Guantanamo for the past decade, since taking on Mr Slahi’s case in 2005.

    “He’s bearing up well, the book is a big help, it’s something for him to look forward to because he’s got a voice and people will finally hear it,” she said, describing Mr Slahi as “delightful, warm, loving, funny, and smart”.

    “Considering what he’s been through there’s a fragility to him but there’s also a patience and an ability to withstand what’s happened and hope for a better future… I have to hope that he will get out and that this book will help… We have to count on the court of public opinion to release him. And Guantanamo has to close.”

     

    Source: www.independent.co.uk