Arming The Torturers: Electro-shock

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Subject: Arming The Torturers: Electro-shock Torture 



News Service 31/97
AI INDEX: ACT 40/04/97
4 MARCH 1997

Arming The Torturers:  Electro-shock Torture And The Spread Of Stun
Technology

Modern electro-shock stun weapons are fast becoming the torturer's
high-technology tool of choice, Amnesty International said today, as it
called for the banning of exports to any country where
electro-shock torture has been committed or where torture is persistent,
and for an immediate suspension of their use for law enforcement.

     In a major new report, the organization said it is believed that
torturers sometimes prefer using electric shock torture because they think
it will not leave permanent marks as evidence on their victims' bodies.

     According to "Roberto", a 50-year-old university professor in Zaire
who was detained and tortured for four weeks after trying to organize a
peace forum in 1991, his initial beating with sticks was stopped when an
officer said "it will leave scars and we will get complaints from Amnesty
International".

     The response was to resort to electro-shock torture, which "Roberto"
describes as:  "This type of weapon... I could really call it something
really horrible -- immoral -- because those people who make it for torture,
they don't test it on their own bodies and they don't know the pain it
causes. They do it to make other people suffer quite simply to make money.
It's very sad."

     In its report, the organization details how widespread the production,
sales, advertising and misuse of electro-shock and stun technology is
becoming. Amnesty International has documented electro-shock torture in 50
countries during the 1990s, including 18 countries where modern
hand-held devices have been used. At least 100 companies around the world
have marketed such weapons.

     "This is a fast-growing industry, whose products are often not
properly tested and many of whose 'clients' are well known to have used the
products to routinely and systematically torture men, women and children,"
Amnesty International said. "Yet many governments  -- including the USA
which is the largest producing country -- allow this trade and some such as
France have even helped to promote it."

     Amnesty International has for many years campaigned against
electro-shock torture using instruments such as cattle prods. Increasingly,
however,  modern high-pulse and high-voltage  stun weapons are being
designed specifically for use on humans. Unlike cattle prods, which can be
used to immobilise or cause localised pain, stun weapons are designed to
inflict severe pain in a few seconds or even milli-seconds and can
temporarily incapacitate a person.

     This pain was described by Mediha Curabaz, a 25-year-old female nurse
who was tortured by officers at the Political Branch of Adana Police
Headquarters in Turkey during 1991, who said "they thrust the electric
truncheon violently into my sexual organs and I felt a pain as if I was
being drilled there with an electric drill. They immediately lay me down on
some ice. I started to bleed at this stage and fainted...before I had come
fully round, they forced me to sign various papers" .

     Victims have been tortured, often repeatedly, with shocks applied to
armpits, necks, faces, chests, abdomens, the inside of the legs, soles of
the feet, inside mouths and ears, on genitals and inside the vagina and
rectum. Immediate effects include severe pain, loss of muscle control,
convulsions, fainting, and involuntary defecation and urination.
Longer-term effects can include muscle stiffness, impotence, scarring, as
well as post-traumatic stress disorder.

     The organization is calling on all relevant governments to refuse any
export licence for electro-shock weapons to be transferred to a country
where persistent torture and ill-treatment have been reported. Amnesty
International is urging the establishment of independent public inquiries
into the use of these weapons, and for an immediate halt in their use for
law enforcement until independent medical and other evidence clearly
demonstrates that their likely use will not contribute to unlawful killings
and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

     Amnesty International is also calling on companies involved in the
trade not to transfer electro-shock weapons to countries with a persistent
record of torture.

     "By knowingly trading electro-shock weapons with torturers, company
salesmen and directors are responsible for their misuse," Amnesty
International said. "If these weapons are meant for lawful law enforcement
and are safe, we want to see the companies prove it. If the users of these
weapons need training, we want to see the proof that training is being
given to all clients, including those in other countries. When they supply
weapons to other countries, we want to see the guarantees that they will
not be used for ill-treatment."

Amnesty International's concerns about electro-shock stun weapons

In its report, Amnesty International highlights particular types of
electro-shock stun weapons.

Stun guns and batons
Research conducted by the United Kingdom government found that even
earlier-generation
lower-voltage stun guns can cause high levels of pain and incapacitation,
and have the potential to cause death through loss of coordination of heart
muscle contraction. According to one supplier's advertisement, a design
feature in its modern stun gun is an automatic switch-off after 15 seconds
of use. However, research showed that a three-to five second discharge was
enough to incapacitate someone for up to 15 minutes. Since their invention,
suppliers' advertisements indicate that the voltage has increased from
10,000 to up to 250,000 volts, although such information is of limited use
in assessing how much pain they can inflict because data on power and other
factors is rarely provided.

Electro-shock shields
Following the death of Harry Landis, a Texas (US) prison officer who
accidentally activated an electro-shock shield in 1995, an engineer who
conducted tests on the shield concluded: "The manufacturer puts in its
literature that the shield will not hurt anyone, including people with
heart conditions. But they have not done studies on people at all. They
conducted their tests on animals - anaesthetized animals."

Taser guns
These guns shoot two wire-trailing darts with hooks up to 30 feet, and are
used in some US states. According to a 1991 forensic pathologist's report,
"certain medical conditions, including drug use and heart disease, may
increase the risk that the taser will be lethal .... the 16 taser-related
deaths in Los Angeles indicate a failure of the taser as a non-lethal
weapon .... In my opinion, the taser contributed to at least nine
deaths..."

Stun belts
Two US companies have produced remote-controlled electro-shock stun belts,
and the belts have increasingly been used on defendants appearing in court,
with presiding judges sometimes holding the remote-control. The belts
inflict eight-second shocks using 50,000 volts through the wearer's body,
which causes instant immobilization, self-defecation and self-urination and
leaves welts. It is claimed that the belts can be activated from a distance
of 300 metres or more, after "any outburst or quick movement", "any
tampering with the belt" [and] "any loss of visual contact by the officer
in charge".

     Despite claims that stun belts are medically safe, one manufacturer
admitted that no strictly independent medical tests have been carried out
on its belt. Instead the company cites a doctor in Nebraska who tested the
company's stun guns on anaesthetized pigs. Instruction manuals warn that
stun belts should not be used on pregnant women, persons with heart
diseases, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or who are epileptic.
However, the US Bureau of Prisons does not carry out medical examinations
of all prisoners before deciding who should wear a stun belt.

Tear gas stun weapons
Some companies in China, Taiwan and the USA have started manufacturing stun
batons which also dispense tear gas or pepper gas. However, sparks from
electro-shock weapons can ignite inflammable substances such as alcohol
propellant used in such sprays. In 1990,  New York Police Department
officers reportedly sprayed an emotionally disturbed boy with a crowd
control chemical and then allegedly shot him with a taser gun, which
somehow started a fire. The boy was said to have suffered first and second
degree burns.

The Production And Sale Of Stun Weapons
Amnesty International has identified more than 100 companies in
industrialized countries including Belgium, China, France, Germany, Israel,
South Africa, Taiwan and the US which have offered to supply stun weapons
since 1990. Of these, the US accounts for almost half the total number of
suppliers. Stun weapons are increasingly marketed through magazines and
exhibitions. Taiwanese stun batons have been exhibited in Shanghai,
Brazilian stun batons in Washington, Chinese and Russian stun batons in
Paris, and South African stun batons and riot shields in Israel and the
Palestinian Authority.

     Virtually all companies which market electro-shock weapons claim they
are non-lethal if used properly. Some companies offer training as a means
to ensure safety, but such training is not available to all those able to
acquire electro-shock weapons. For example, one stun belt manufacturer,
while offering up to six hours training to customers intending to use it in
the USA, said it was nevertheless willing to sell the belts to China or
Saudi Arabia without providing training.

     However, the prohibition on such weapons by a number of governments
results from a recognition that they may too easily lead to unnecessary
suffering, serious injury and even death. In Belgium, Canada, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, the UK,
and other Commonwealth countries,  electro-shock weapons other than cattle
prods are reportedly treated as prohibited weapons. In some countries such
as the UK, however, the ban does not appear to include "third country"
trafficking. Spokespeople for UK companies have admitted arranging sales to
China via Hong Kong and Cyprus through a "South African associate", and
were willing to sell to Lebanon and Zaire via "third countries".

     Despite this recognition, there has been little attempt by most
governments in supplier countries to strictly regulate transfers of
electro-shock weapons to countries whose law enforcers practise torture and
severe ill-treatment. The US government approved the export of taser guns
to Saudi Arabia, electro-shock shields to Mexico and stun guns to
Venezuela. A French company admitted to having supplied to countries in
North Africa, while a major German supplier publishes its catalogue in
Russian and Arabic. Chinese companies are increasingly promoting their
products in Asia and in Europe, while Taiwanese companies export to the
USA, Asia, and South Africa, and one described Eastern Europe as "a booming
market".

Countries Where Electro-shock Torture Has Taken Place

Amnesty International has documented instances of electro-shock torture in
at least 50 countries since 1990, from Algeria to Zaire.

     In China, the use of electric batons has become so widespread and
endemic that it is difficult to document the number of victims.  Four girls
aged under 16 and two young men detained in Fuxin, Liaoning province in
early 1995, were given shocks with an electric baton by a Public Security
section chief intent on making them "confess" to "hooligan and promiscuous
behaviour". Two Tibetan brothers, Pasang, aged 19, and Tenzin, aged 11,
described how they were tortured in prison. Pasang said:"They poked an
electric baton in my face, my mouth", while Tenzin said: "They put the
electric baton inside my mouth...It burnt me badly and gave me a wound.  It
was terrible.".

     In August 1996, Chen Longde, a pro-democracy activist from Zhejiang
province, attempted to commit suicide by jumping from a third story window.
Labour camp officials reportedly admitted later that he had jumped through
the window after being beaten with electric shock batons.

     In Cyprus, a 1995 government report confirmed that various people
detained in Limassol Town Police Station during 1992 were tortured with
electric shocks to various parts of the body, including the penis.  In one
case, Stelios Xenophontos Neofitou was handcuffed, stripped and wet with
water before being hung upside down  and allegedly given electric shocks to
various parts of his body including his genitals. Although Stelios Neofitou
saw the police with an electro-shock baton before he was tortured, he could
not prove that this was the actual instrument used for the torture.

     In the Lebanon, Amnesty International has received reports that
prisoners were tortured with electric batons at the Ministry of Defence
during 1994.

     Electric shock torture has been widely used in Saudi Arabia. In May
1994, Gulum Mustafa, a Pakistani national, was said to have been severely
tortured in a detention centre for drug offenders in Jeddah shortly before
he was transferred to Priman Prison.  The torture included insertion of a
metal stick into his anus and electric shocks.  He reportedly was left
bleeding and unable to walk, and was not given any medical attention. The
US government has approved the export of taser guns to Saudi Arabia.

     One of the electro-shock weapons Amnesty International is concerned
about in the USA is the  use of remote-controlled stun belts, particularly
on defendants appearing in court. In November 1993, Edward Vald?z was
incapacitated in front of waiting jurors after he left  courtroom and in
December 1994, Bruce Sons was accidentally stunned while talking to his
attorney during a break in a pre-trial hearing in California. In 1995,
James Oswald was made to wear a stun belt and shackles despite appearing in
court in a wheelchair. He claimed he was stunned twice in what his attorney
called an attempt by police to torture his client. Amnesty International
believes that these belts are specifically designed to be degrading.
ENDS.../

[Amnesty Internation].

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