White Torture

Michael Utku (CO Re)

White torture is an enhanced interrogation technique which utilises extreme sensory deprivation. It attacks the prisoner’s psychological well-being and sanity. Torture is said to cause depression – through anxiety, hallucinations or loss of consciousness; prisoners can also become ‘depersonalised’, meaning they lose their sense of identity and the identities of loved ones.

The prisoners are kept in a torture chamber designed to deprive them of all their senses. The room is completely white, and lights are positioned to prevent any shadows depriving them of sight. Secondly, the room is soundproofed so the prisoners cannot hear anything but themselves. With taste and smell – the prisoners eat plain rice, and all the surfaces of the room are smooth, depriving the prisoners of their sense of touch. Additionally, prisoners are blatantly lied to about people they love and matters of the outside world, until they lose all sense of truth and give in to the interrogator.

There are many allegations of its use, most notably the case of Amir-Abbas Fakhravar; who, in the 1990s and early 2000s was outspokenly critical of the Iranian government. For eight months in 2004, he was tortured at Evin Prison in Tehran - which is notorious for executions, torture and amputations. Fortunately, he escaped and now is a researcher and lecturer at the Institute of World Politics. Fellow Iranian Ebrahim Nabavi, who was also tortured at Evin Prison, stated to the Human Rights Watch that he has ‘not been able to sleep without sleeping pills’, showing the devastating and long-lasting effects of white torture.

Furthermore, there have been accusations, made by Amnesty International (the world’s leading human rights organisation), of the use of similar enhanced interrogation techniques in the USA. They claimed that the CIA used similar techniques in black sites, such as a secret prison in Thailand or Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. These techniques used by the CIA often include techniques such as covering eyes and ears, and tying hands and feet, or even putting prisoners into confined boxes. This is often referred to as ‘dark torture’, as the prisoner is unable to see. Its use was authorised by George W. Bush in Iraq in order to interrogate captives.

In addition, the British Government used such methods on IRA suspects where captives were put through the ‘5 techniques’: hooding (and handcuffing), wall-standing, subjection to loud noise, and both sleep and food and drink deprivation. It is largely associated with Operation Demetrius – a mass arrest of 342 people suspected to be associated with the IRA; captives were kept in cells and sometimes spontaneously kicked in the groin, ensuring that the captives were always on edge.

The other large allegation of its use is in Venezuela. There are claims that there are cells in ‘La Tumba’or The Tomb under the headquarters of SEBIN (the Venezuelan intelligence service), where prisoners are held captive in white rooms. Prisoners are deprived of all human interaction as food is passed through opening holes, and prisoners lose sense of day and night, as the rooms are kept lit for a whole 24 hours, interfering with the prisoners’ sleep.

As expressed by Ebrahim Nabavi, such techniques have long-term psychological and social effects and seem so inhumane: it is appalling that countries and organisations can get away with this ‘Enhanced Interrogation’. There are many anti-torture initiatives such as Amnesty International that are calling upon nations to end the usage of such methods.