Ending torture: Kavi Beepat

The Kursbuch edition 163/Mar 2006 from which I've been quoting includes an interview with Kavi Beepat, a psychologist who works with torture victims at the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims in Copenhagen.

In part of the interview, he talks about how he has to be careful to maintain his own professional distance in dealing with torture victims, which he clearly finds to be a serious challenge. The most significant observation to me in his interview is his observation that even the types of torture that don't leave physical scars do actually leave permanent harm. "The experience of torture remains." (My translation from the German)

He also says that victims traumatized by torture can have experiences for the rest of their lives that may reactivate the trauma.

He also talks about the particularly vicious effect of torturers threatening to also torture the victims family. He says that it's not unusual for victims in that situation to pass out when they are threatened with the rape of a family member.

One of the justifications for the Cheney-Bush torture program was that the torture techniques being used allegedly wouldn't leave permanent damage. Like eveything else about the Cheney-Bush torture program, that too was a lie.

Tags: accountability for torture, davi beepat, torture

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