Stop-Torture-Report
Stop-Torture-Report Stop-Torture-Report
“I was physically tortured about three times a month. By torture I mean I was taken to an interrogation room and tortured. They used instruments, plastic pipes with sand, I was hung upside down and beaten, burnt with cigarettes and hot irons. I have those scars. It was military intelligence that did this torture. I was kept in a room with about 2-3 boys and a family. I was sexually abused two times.” (Witness 96) Aid workers have testified to meeting women who were raped while in Manik Farm and who became pregnant as a result. One such witness assisted seven young women who became pregnant: “Two of them were 12-13 years old who had been brought from Manik Farm. The others were about 18-21 years of age. All were too pregnant for abortions and had their babies. They told me that almost all the young women called for interrogation in their camps were tortured and raped. They were women from the camps brought into Vavuniya Hospital… They told me that they in fact were raped and impregnated by the security forces. They also said that they were threatened that not to tell their stories to the authorities or anyone else. They were threatened with death. They were ordered to say that they had been raped by their fathers or family members or other Tamil villagers or the LTTE.” (Witness 111) In addition we have evidence of rape and torture of men and women in other camps for war survivors. These accounts include the rape of at least one noncombatant Catholic novice, or trainee nun, described here by another woman also raped in the same displacement camp: “She was a very beautiful young girl. She started crying and did not leave. About 10 army men came. They grabbed and pulled her as she was holding on to the Reverend Sisters and refused to go. The Reverend Father came and told them not to take her and they slapped him for interfering. They took her about 1pm in the afternoon and said that they were taking her for an inquiry. They dragged her to a small building. They brought her back about 8pm that night in 74
a vehicle and let her go on the road outside our hall. She had difficulty walking. She was wearing a Punjabi dress, but the shawl she had been wearing when she was taken was missing. Her clothes were totally wrinkled. She was crying and in total depression. She would not talk even though we kept trying to comfort her. She finally exclaimed, “Everything is over for me”. She collapsed to the floor and was semi-conscious. In the morning when it was light we saw cigarette burns on her legs and hands. As people were around I just looked up to her knees there were many burns. I could also see her arms and hands up to her biceps to the cuff of her blouse and there were many burns up to the cuff. I did not look under her clothes… She would not take water or food. She just wanted to lie there. She would not get out of bed from then until I left the camp. We had to spoon feed her. She was always crying. Her mental health was not normal at all. It was if she was in a daze – just staring straight ahead and it is was like she was seeing nothing.” (Witness number omitted for witness protection reasons) Since its inception there were persistent and credible reports of sexual violence and torture in Manik Farm and other internment camps run by the security forces but the Government of Sri Lanka has taken no steps to investigate. 75
- Page 23 and 24: the case study in this report on th
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- Page 37 and 38: efore he had managed to desert. In
- Page 39 and 40: (Witness 117) His expert medical re
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- Page 51 and 52: (Witness 70) The Forward Maintenanc
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- Page 55 and 56: 8 17 47 9 2 Jaffna 14 3 1 Elephant
- Page 57 and 58: Note on Iniya Bharathi’s office i
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- Page 67 and 68: In addition, ITJP is in possession
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- Page 99 and 100: stop. The petrol bag was repeated t
- Page 101 and 102: close members of her family abducte
- Page 103 and 104: The Extensive Use of Informers Many
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“I was physically tortured about three times a month. By torture I mean I was<br />
taken to an interrogation room and tortured. They used instruments, plastic<br />
pipes with sand, I was hung upside down and beaten, burnt with cigarettes and<br />
hot irons. I have those scars. It was military intelligence that did this torture. I<br />
was kept in a room with about 2-3 boys and a family. I was sexually abused<br />
two times.”<br />
(Witness 96)<br />
Aid workers have testified to meeting women who were raped while in Manik<br />
Farm and who became pregnant as a result. One such witness assisted seven<br />
young women who became pregnant:<br />
“Two of them were 12-13 years old who had been brought from Manik Farm.<br />
The others were about 18-21 years of age. All were too pregnant for abortions<br />
and had their babies. They told me that almost all the young women called for<br />
interrogation in their camps were tortured and raped. They were women from<br />
the camps brought into Vavuniya Hospital… They told me that they in fact<br />
were raped and impregnated by the security forces. They also said that they<br />
were threatened that not to tell their stories to the authorities or anyone else.<br />
They were threatened with death. They were ordered to say that they had been<br />
raped by their fathers or family members or other Tamil villagers or the LTTE.”<br />
(Witness 111)<br />
In addition we have evidence of rape and torture of men and women in other<br />
camps for war survivors. These accounts include the rape of at least one noncombatant<br />
Catholic novice, or trainee nun, described here by another woman<br />
also raped in the same displacement camp:<br />
“She was a very beautiful young girl. She started crying and did not leave.<br />
About 10 army men came. They grabbed and pulled her as she was holding on<br />
to the Reverend Sisters and refused to go. The Reverend Father came and told<br />
them not to take her and they slapped him for interfering. They took her about<br />
1pm in the afternoon and said that they were taking her for an inquiry. They<br />
dragged her to a small building. They brought her back about 8pm that night in<br />
74
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