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Nepal
in Crisis 2006: Human Rights
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Testimony
by a victim of Maoist torture
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KATHMANDU,
02 February 2006 (IRIN)
The
Maoist rebels, like the army and police, have been accused of human rights
abuses by human rights groups and those civilians who have suffered at
their hands.
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| 'Maniram'
(not his real name) told IRIN he was working as a village teacher until
April 2005, when a group of Maoist militants abducted him from his house
and detained him for nearly a month. They said his brother, a member of
the Maoists, had deserted them, and held Maniram responsible for persuading
him to leave. |
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| Maniram
spoke to IRIN about the mental and physical torture he experienced during
his detention.
"I
had not seen my brother for many years after he joined the Maoist party
of his own free will. It was only when I got abducted by the militants
that I found that he had deserted the rebels. It was around 06:00 in the
morning when a group of armed militants came to my house in Ghetna, that's
about one day's walk from Khalanga [a town in Rukum district], and asked
me to walk with them. I was very frightened that this would be the end
of my life and I did not know why I was being abducted. They made me walk
for a whole day and finally in the evening [we] reached Jipu village. |
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At
around 22:00, the rebels dragged me to a room where 11 of their leaders
were sitting around a table. One of them started hitting me when I told
them I had nothing to do with my brother"s desertion of their party. The
beating lasted for hours. I constantly told them that I was innocent but
they again battered me with heavy logs.
It
was almost five hours later that I realised I had fainted. When I woke
up, I was bleeding all over my face and body. Realising that there would
be more torture, I gave up and told them what they wanted to hear. I admitted
that I helped my brother surrender to the security forces to live an ordinary
civilian life. After that I was locked in a dark room for 28 days. I was
handcuffed for 24 hours a day. I never saw the sunlight all this time.
They used to throw food in the room and [I] was not even allowed to go
out for toilet.
I
was given food twice a day, every 12 hours. I knew that I would die living
like this as I believed there was no hope of being released. I noticed
that the door to the room where I was being kept was not very strong, so
I broke out of the door around 21:00 one night. I ran all the way down
to Khalanga and went straight to the police post, getting there about seven
hours later. By then it was almost morning. There [too] I was interrogated
and detained for one night. But the police released me after that and gave
me food.
With
help from the unified command of the police and army, I was given a job
as a teacher in the local high school, where I am still in hiding as the
Maoists are still looking for me. All I want is justice and an apology
from the Maoist leaders for torturing me for no reason. My parents were
in total shock. I was afraid I would never see my young sons and wife.
Luckily I am alive today but I don't know for how long. The Maoists are
out to get me, I know that."
Credit
IRIN 2006
Copyright
© UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
[
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Integrated
Regional Information Networks (IRIN), part of the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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