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A Space of Hope
Khahlid is a 30 years old man. He is a very young man!
When I visited him, after he had been released from detention,
his nails were pulled out. They pulled out his nails!!!
Khalid told me something I will never ever forget.
He told me that "dying is more merciful comparing to what you will see in prison"
Some of my friends who have been tortured
I have seen horrific torture effects. I have seen broken bones.
Some victims of torture can't even walk, talk or even sleep.
I know some of them who forget the taste of food. I saw children who keep crying.
The physical marks of torture could vanish, but the psychological one stays.
All of that torture is on one hand, and torturing children is on the other.
The soul's hurt stays, however the body's hurt could heal.
Torture in Arabic is a noun, a physical or psychological punishment.
Torture is a word that often brings to our mind the scenes of danger,
and an image that often from medieval times with their dark dungeons.
These images shouldn't be connected with our time. But the reality is not like that.
Torture is still practiced around the world for political reasons.
Unfortunately torture these days is aided by advanced technology.
Psychological torture is particularly horrible, because of its lasting physical and psychological effects.
According to Amnesty International's Report in 2000:
Torture is practiced in 130 countries, a 23% increase since 1989.
It can be hard to believe such a primitive practice still exists.
But many people can assure that it does through their own personal experience.
Torture aims to destroy the personality and human dignity of the victim.
Torture is one of the most despicable acts a human can do to another human.
The United Nation's definition of the torture is:
Any act by which severe pain or suffering, physical or mental,
is intentionally inflicted to obtain information or a confession,
to punish, or to intimidate or coerce, based on
discrimination (political opinion, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, or membership in a social group)
Inflicted by, or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official.
The question is: Why do they use torture?
What is the aim of people who use torture?
People who use torture aim to destroy the personality of the victim, to silence his voice which is asking for his rights;
and to send a strong message to other individuals in order to terrorize them and to mute their voices
and prevent them from any possibility of showing any objections.
Indeed, a primary goal of torture is to terrorize entire communities,
into silence and submission by making examples of individuals and their families.
The message sent to communities is: "If you dare to challenge us in any way, this could happen to you, too."
Victims of torture - men, women and children - who suffer from the effects of the torture
which transfers from the body to the mind into the soul.
Many survivors tell horrific stories about torturing, killing, kidnappings, and ***.
As a result of the horrific experience of torture,
they experience on-going physical, mental and emotional challenges.
Torture affects not only the individuals who have been tortured
but also those who have been threatened to be tortured or witness the torture of others.
In addition to the people tortured, also the families and communities in which they live are deeply impacted by torture.
The paintings we are seeing now are artworks created by survivors of torture.
Some of these paintings show the pain of the hard experiences they have been through.
Other paintings reflect the hope which the survivors feel.
In some paintings we can see an invitation for people to work to stop this brutal practice.
If you are one of the survivors
you could suffer from the psychological and physical effects of torture. Your memory may hold bitterness from this awful experience.
You should know that what you suffer is normal.
When human beings hold the burden of the violence and terror they have witnessed, the reaction to these horrors is normal.
These reactions may include:
● A profound sense of disbelief that these incidents have happened. They can feel unreal, like a bad dream or movie.
● When disbelief and shock fade, feelings of loss can occur. These may include profound sadness over loss of loved ones or the suffering of loved ones, loss of security.
● Recurring unwanted thoughts, nightmares, intrusive images, and flashback may emerge.
● Irritability, anger and rage may emerge.
● Moodiness, sadness and/or depressed mood, crying more easily or wanting to cry.
● Guilt. When one begins to resume a "normal" life, s/he may feel guilty for being OK, being in a good mood and/or having fun when others are suffering.
● Physical problems such as headaches, stomachaches, breathing difficulties, insomnia, high blood pressure, nausea, changes in appetite, increased allergies, colds, rashes, etc.
These are things you can do to be helpful to yourself and others:
● Recognize your feelings. These events have had a deep impact on you and have affected you and your community.
● Recognize that your feeling is normal, and any person will feel the same if s/he had been through the same painful experience.
● Accept that your emotions may go up and down for a period; this is normal. Sadness needs time to fade.
● Deal with your anger in a non-destructive way. Don't isolate your self, keep socializing with people and talk to people who care about you.
● Keep in touch with family, friends. Gather together with others for sharing and support.
● Don't hesitate to ask help from your friends or specialists.
● Remember you are not the only person in this world who has been through this experience. And some of these people need your help.
● Don't give up to this suffering, don't make those who torture you reach their purpose by destroying you.
Human beings can live days without food or water, minutes without air, but not a single moment without hope.