Eighty-two refugees from Bangladesh were examined by specialists in forensic medicine and psychiatrists at the Centre for Torture and Trauma Survivors in Stockholm from 1999–2004. The majority gave similar testimonies of political violence and torture during police interrogations. The aim of the present study was to describe general features and patterns of torture by police in Bangladesh as well as medical and psychiatric sequel in this group of alleged victims.
The majority of was young men, mean age 29, who had been politically active in oppositional organisations, arrested in the street during demonstrations, and accused of illegal possessions of arms or of murder. They were all kicked and beaten with police batons and fits. The most common torture methods were beatings on the soles with lathi, wooden canes or hot water bottles, straight or upside-down suspension, electric shocks, and asphyxiation by means of hot and/or polluted water poured into the nostrils. All the women and nearly a third of the men alleged that they have been raped. The victims were in most cases released with in three days, many of them severely traumatised and in need of acute medical attention.
At the time of examination, all but a few subjects showed more than twenty scars, and over 80% were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Many complained of chronic aches in the lower back joints and feet.
