The topic that caught my attention and prompted me to write this article is a part of the memoirs that Sarah Shourd wrote a few days ago in the American newspaper, New York Times. Sarah Shourd is one of the three American journalists and hikers who were arrested on August 8, 2009 (July 31, 2009) by Iranian security forces in the western border regions of Iran.

“Sara Shourd”, “Shane Bauer”, and “Joshua Fattal” had traveled to that location to prepare a report on the elections in Iraqi Kurdistan, but were detained by Iranian security forces due to what was labeled as illegal entry into Iranian territory. They were later charged with espionage.

Ms. Shourd mentions in this writing that “after being released from prison, to her surprise, she realized that the United Nations Convention against Torture, which is one of the few treaties that the United States has also accepted, does not consider solitary confinement as a form of torture.”

But what is the reality of individual cells and other limitations that a security information system creates for prisoners and falls under the category of “Torture White”?

“White torture”, (this type of torture is known as “clean torture” in the CIA organization and is also referred to as “soft torture” in Iran) is a form of torture that instead of physically harming the prisoner (like other forms of physical torture), targets their mind and soul in order to disrupt their thought process and cause mental instability. This type of torture forces the prisoner to retreat into themselves and spiral into mental breakdown.

The principles of theory and practice of this type of torture are based on the achievements of psychologists and its formation should be specifically considered as the period after the end of World War II.

“من به دنبال آرامش و آرامش داخلی هستم”

“I am looking for peace and inner tranquility.”

White torture, an alternative to torture.

In the first half of the 18th century, the body was considered the main tool for suppressing crime and was subjected to torture. The forms of torture during that period included gouging out eyes, branding, burning, pouring molten substances, and flaying the skin, as well as the use of guillotines and public executions, which instilled fear and terror in the public.

But in the late of this century and early nineteenth century, the display of the system of torture and pain, which according to Foucault, has a completely tangible power and visible effects, gradually disappeared. “Expert specialists” were employed instead of “executioners” and “soul” replaced “body” and the goal of “eliminating the criminal” changed to “reforming them”.

On the other hand, during that period of time and with the expression of disgust from the world towards the revelation of the use of torture by the Nazis, the international powers, who on one hand had committed to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 and condemned physical confrontation as a violation of the principle of humanity, were also facing crises such as the Cold War; they were faced with a challenge.

These developments have led information systems to employ a political-ethical plan, so that in addition to obtaining sufficient information, confessions can also be obtained from some prominent figures in front of the camera, without any physical consequences, and in fact, punishment and retribution are transformed into the most hidden part of the criminal process.

Not creating physical effects in torture for intelligence systems had two major advantages: the system would not be subject to international condemnation and, perhaps more importantly, the dissemination of confessions that showed no signs of torture on the appearance of the accused would be more believable to the public. This type of display and portrayal of collective morality also created increasing fear and terror in society.

In such circumstances, an individual who is considered a criminal is both rejected and used by others. In fact, he is seen as both a scapegoat and a tool for exerting power.

According to a declassified note from the CIA, a research in the mid-1950s was conducted by this organization on the subject of “Interrogation Techniques”. This program focused on various unconventional and unusual interrogation methods, including “psychological torture” and things like complete isolation, as well as the use of drugs and chemicals. Over the next decade, and in search of new ways to break the resistance of suspected communist or double agent prisoners, 25 million dollars were spent on this research, with eighty institutes, including forty-four universities and twelve hospitals, collaborating on this program.

 

The beginning stage of white torture

According to the writer, the starting point of the white torture, which is imposed on the prisoner, should be identified even before they enter solitary confinement. Torture is seen as a punishment before proving the crime, because according to totalitarian systems, we do not have the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.”

Information systems are used for the detention of an individual (this text is mainly about suspects with political-security crimes) who is usually not armed. A large number of security agents are mobilized with operational encryption and carry out the arrest. In such a situation, the arrest is usually accompanied by creating an atmosphere of fear and terror, using vulgar language and a humiliating method of arrest.

In some cases, when a place of work or residence is raided, the individuals are detained and their belongings are searched, sometimes resulting in unnecessary disruption of the mentioned place’s order and filming of the situation.

After that, the mentioned individual or individuals, usually after inflammatory arrests, need to go through the entire existing path until reaching a secondary environment (detention center or prison) with their eyes closed and sometimes a bag over their head.

 

Individual cell, a prominent example of torture

The prison system and methods of imprisoning criminals have created doubts and serious and profound questions because this system, in addition to depriving individuals of their freedom, has made the power of punishment natural and legitimate and lowered the threshold of tolerance. Prison, which should truly be said, is an ugly solution and, from the perspective of some sociologists, continues a work that has begun elsewhere.

Apart from this perspective, individual cell is in itself a prominent example of torture, because as mentioned earlier, one of the most important tools of white torture is to imprison the prisoner in individual cells with the aim of creating sensory deprivation and isolation, and since humans are inherently social beings who are the embodiment and collection of all social relationships, when all of their relationships with the outside world are cut off, a severe blow will be inflicted on their body and soul.

This is while, according to a false belief that has formed, unfortunately individual cells are generally considered equal in the public prison.

The following cases are part of the types of white torture that are applied to the prisoner during their presence in solitary confinement. It is obvious that there may be many other cases that have remained hidden from the writer’s perspective.

Sensory deprivation and long-term sleep disturbances: This condition, which is sometimes accompanied by the prescription of sleeping pills, lowers the individual’s defensive state to a noticeable level and even creates a disturbance in the person’s self-perception.

Lack of opportunity to communicate with others: In many cases and for an indefinite period of time, prisoners are even deprived of the right to see interrogators and prison guards. This feeling of absolute loneliness causes the individual to imagine that they have been abandoned and essentially no one is thinking about them.

Keeping prisoners unaware of news and information: Not having any means of communication with the outside world, such as telephone, newspaper, and television, plunges prisoners into a state of isolation.

Lack of awareness about location: As mentioned, a prisoner may not see anything other than the four walls of their cell due to being forced to wear a blindfold, and therefore may have no information about their geographical location.

Pulling a bag over one’s head during transportation and interrogation: This action is done in order to prevent awareness of the location and to avoid being seen by other individuals such as relevant officials and other prisoners who may be present in that location.

Lack of awareness about time: Preventing sunlight from entering the cell due to the lack of windows, as well as the lack of access to fresh air and inhaling free air, leads to a lack of awareness about time, which is one of the most important requirements for creating disturbances in the individual’s thinking system and mental decline. In some cases, when prisoners can guess the time based on meal promises, prison guards change the intervals between meals and the type of food; for example, they give soup instead of breakfast and rice instead of dinner to the prisoner.

Changing the temperature of the cell: This situation, which sometimes includes a difference of tens of degrees in a short period of time (for example, one day and night), disrupts the individual’s sensory-defense system.

Low or excessive light in the cell: This practice, which is carried out for the sake of uniformity of day and night, becomes extremely tedious for the prisoner after a short period of time. In some cases, prisoners have been seen seeking refuge in their unpleasant cells for rest, in order to escape from the exhausting glare of light for a while.

Forcing a prisoner to stand still: This state, in which a person is forced to stand still for a long period of time, creates extreme physical fatigue. In this method, physical and mental pressure work together simultaneously.

Using wrist and ankle restraints in different situations: The use of wrist and ankle restraints for prisoners, aside from being degrading, also disrupts the person’s sense of touch. In some cases, it has been observed that the use of wrist restraints is accompanied by pulling nylon gloves over the hands, or that the arms and hands of prisoners are placed in cardboard tubes for extended periods of time to numb their sense of touch.

Creating double fear and intimidation: Sometimes, they use what the detained person is afraid of (like fear of dogs and their barking) based on their psychological characteristics to create stress.

Broadcasting of muffled and indistinct sounds: Broadcasting of muffled and unintelligible sounds that are sometimes accompanied by crying and moaning, and can evoke unfavorable conditions for the prisoner or the presence of loved ones such as father, mother, spouse, or friends in prison. This method leads to creating illusions in the human mind.

Contaminated space in the cell: Individual cells are subject to unsanitary conditions, cases of environmental deterioration, and the presence of infectious animals. In addition, limited items such as blankets and blindfolds provided to prisoners in the cell are sometimes so contaminated that the smell of decay, especially in the early days of tolerating the cell space, makes it even more unbearable.

Very small individual cells: imprisoning a prisoner in a very small cell, which in some cases is reduced to a one-by-one size, eliminates the minimum use of space for physical activities such as walking and exercising, and forces the prisoner to be more still and in a specific position (lying down, standing, or crouching).

Continuous broadcasting of some moral-religious teachings: In traditional-religious societies, including Iran, for prisoners in solitary confinement, continuous broadcasts of audio such as Adhan, Quran, lamentations, and some religious hymns are played.

 

The continuation of white torture in interrogations.

In a situation where prisoners are weakened, in the middle of the sea, and their eyes, ears, and hands are unable to determine their location, they are submerged and sometimes, through medication, they become almost vegetative. Their resistance against the interrogator decreases to an indescribable level. In this state, the prisoner officially enters a new phase where they are forced to answer the interrogator’s questions daily for more than twenty hours.

But the white torture does not end in this stage, it enters a new phase. During the interrogation, in addition to continuing many previous methods and apart from the pressures resulting from the interrogation, other methods are also applied, some of which are mentioned below.

– The use of electric shock: The use of electric shock, which is mostly done by attaching wires to the body parts of a prisoner, especially their genitals, causes immense pain to the person’s body, to the extent that they may not be able to accept many things that they would normally reject due to their reluctance to be in such a situation for a long time.

Taking pills: Interrogators sometimes give prisoners pills or other types of sedatives or hallucinogens to increase the percentage of mistakes and delusions in the individual.

Sleep deprivation: This method involves keeping a person in a state that leads to long-term sleep deprivation. Repeatedly waking a person up from sleep for interrogation and prescribing stimulant medications are among the methods used for sleep deprivation.

Providing false information to prisoners: In this method, the interrogator gives the person false information; for example, about their family’s poor physical condition, the transfer of one of them to the hospital, or their death. Or that one of their relatives has been arrested and has also made confessions against them.

Nakedness of prisoners: This method, which is sometimes accompanied by threats of rape, is used to humiliate and break the prisoners.

Misuse of Moral or Traditional Feelings: Information systems also use the culture of each society in the implementation of white torture, and take advantage of individuals’ religious and traditional feelings in such a way that, for example, they threaten male detainees with the sexual abuse of their sisters, wives, or daughters, and misuse them.

Basiti added that in Iran, other specific cases have been reported, such as considering political prisoners as unclean, threatening them with HIV, throwing their heads into the toilet, burying them alive, and even artificial execution. It has also been observed that imprisoning an individual with multiple cellmates who have significantly different beliefs makes it even harder for them to tolerate the conditions in solitary confinement. In this regard, it has been seen that political prisoners who were placed in the same cell as members of Al-Qaeda, but found the conditions so difficult that they resorted to various tactics, including hunger strikes, to return to the isolation of solitary confinement.

 

The method of dealing with prisoners against the prison system and torture.

Throughout history, humans have always been a creative being. Based on this, they have devised ways to cope with difficult individual circumstances, some of which are briefly discussed below. It should also be noted that initially, a person should not have unrealistic ideas about their own power and resistance, as otherwise they will soon develop hatred towards themselves and their fellow beings.

For prisoners, sometimes hearing the sound of the call to prayer, the church bell, or even the sound of the guards dividing food is considered a lifeline, which keeps a glimmer of hope alive in their hearts, because inside them, this reminder that life outside of prison is still ongoing is strengthened.

A person who becomes a victim of individual cell and white torture must keep themselves occupied and “plan” for themselves and in other words, distance themselves from “expectations”. According to psychologists, individuals who have a strong imagination and can entertain themselves with memories of the past or their belongings, are less vulnerable in prison. In other words, they engage in creating information in their minds. In these circumstances, reading and reviewing poems or religious texts, especially those that bring pleasant memories for the prisoner, can be a suitable substitute for the limited perception and sensory deprivation. Of course, changing the daily routine also has a profound effect on avoiding monotony in these conditions.

In addition, writing slogans or chanting slogans inside the cell, which can be done in various ways, is a way to not only entertain the prisoner, but also to reinforce their inner beliefs, especially for themselves.

In addition, sometimes a person, with cursing and condemning the judge, law, power, and religion, openly confronts the existing order and becomes admired by the people and turns into a hero. However, this phenomenon was more prevalent during the era of the use of white torture, and it was here that people changed their role from spectators to rebels and shouted to abolish executions.

It should be noted, however, that although some individuals may not succumb to the pressures present in interrogations, they still suffer severe psychological damage and exhibit symptoms such as anxiety, depression, delusions, hallucinations, and cognitive errors for a long time. Of course, in this regard, the way in which the individual and those around him deal with the concept of confession is very important, as it can lead him into the abyss of destruction and disintegration, causing the ultimate collapse and demise of the victim’s personality.

 

Types of questioning

The interrogations that a information system puts on its agenda are usually done in two ways:

In the first type, the prisoner is put under pressure to obtain a confession, but to the extent that accurate, detailed and correct information is extracted from him without any harm. The prisoner must be in a condition where his coherence of thought is preserved and his mental errors are reduced.

But in the second type, where the interrogator appears as a friend or enemy and uses methods such as repeated questioning about a subject, debate and argument, threats, indoctrination, or moral education and encouragement; more pressure is put on the prisoner. The main goal of this long and exhausting interrogation is to accelerate the breakdown of the prisoner’s values and encourage them to replace their old values with a new system.

 

What is the purpose of white torture?

Since using the white torture, it is easy to put a person in a space between life and death, interrogators find the opportunity to break the resistance of the prisoner, who is considered a source of information, extract the necessary information, and even manipulate them in a way that they accept their false but tempting offers and suggestions.

On the other hand, it can be said that the conditions resulting from the doubt in which a person is in, provide a good opportunity for brainwashing and replacing a new system of thinking; because the nervous system also has a thirst for receiving information and stimuli in conditions of deprivation, and at this stage, it is not able to properly choose, distinguish, and purify correct information from incorrect information, and surprisingly, it becomes receptive to ideas that it had previously rejected. In fact, this process is in line with the preservation of the life of a species or the realization of the true essence of humanity from it.

These precise and advanced cognitive methods, due to their lack of complexity, not only incur lower costs for a totalitarian government’s information system, but also significantly reduce the possibility of legal complaints and proof, resulting in much greater achievements.

Furthermore, since security systems require a special need to create a sense of fear and terror for other citizens, they usually target individuals who are under white torture and have a more recognizable personality. Breaking them, while there is no visible evidence of torture on them, is seen as a way to maintain the power and control of the system.

Apparently, they appear in front of cameras willingly and without coercion, a lesson for their fans, hidden prisoners or masses who have no precise knowledge of prison.

 

The role of individual cells in laws related to torture prohibition.

It must be boldly claimed that the term “white torture” in general and “solitary confinement” in particular, have not been recognized as prominent examples of torture in any valid international or domestic laws in Iran. What has been mentioned in these laws are some general regulations and concepts.

For example, according to Article 1 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the term torture refers to any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.

Or apparently, according to Article 38 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, any form of torture to obtain confession or information is prohibited.

Furthermore, according to Article 9 of the “Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Citizen Rights” which was approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in 2004, any form of torture of a suspect for the purpose of obtaining a confession or forcing them to do other things is prohibited.

This type of laws, due to lack of transparency, while claiming to cover multiple cases, deprives citizens of the ability to refer and defend themselves to a considerable extent. This practically leaves the power in the hands of individuals, including judges who have the ability to interpret the law from a legal perspective, and provides a basis for the abuse of the security system to violate the rights of citizens. However, it should be noted that this criticism does not mean that laws should cover all details; but ultimately, it is obvious that more transparency, especially in important cases, as mentioned, also facilitates the defense against the law.

Sources:

Shourd, Sara, an article titled “Tortured by Solitude”, published in The New York Times on Friday, November 3, 2011.

“Foucault, Michel, Care and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison, translated by Nikoo Sarkhosh and Afshin Jahandideh, Tehran: Nashr-e-Ney, Tehran 1378.”

Klein, Naomi, Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, translated by Mehrdad Khalil Shahabi and Mirmahmoud Nabavi, Ameh Publishing, Tehran 1389.

Masdaqi, Iraj, Neither Life Nor Death, Volume One of Prison Memoirs (Sunset), Alphabet Maxima Publishing, Sweden, 1385 (2006).

The website of the United Nations Studies Center – Tehran.

Conversation between Forough Hossein Pour and Dr. Wank Anson, psychologist at the Center for the Treatment of Torture Victims in Berlin.

Philosophical Anthropology, Hans Dirkx, translated by Mohammadreza Beheshti, Hermes Publications, Tehran 1384.

Conversation with Maryam Rasoulian about facial makeup