against the accusations, but as soon as I did so the beating started. Four or five men beat and kicked me all over by body. I soon fell on the floor, but everytime I did so I was dragged again to my feet and beaten again. In between the beatings I was asked more questions regarding my movements and my acquaintances. After half an hour of questioning and beating, my toes were connected to wires from a crank telephone. I was then administered electric shocks. The pain was severe and far worse than the beatings. This continued for an indeterminated time, interspersed only with further questioning and denunciation of me for being bourgeois or for representing feudal interests. At a certain point, I cannot recall precisely when, I simply fell unconscious. The next thing that I recall was waking the following day. A soldier was wiping my brow with a wet flannel. I remember feeling intense pain and soreness all over by body. I was also suddenly aware that my left hand was broken. This had occured at some point during the interrogation when one of the Khad officers had stamped on my hand. Following this, I was never interrogated again. Two days later one of the Khad officers who had participated in my interrogation came to my cell and told me that I would be released. He said the Khad was now satisfied that my detention had been a mistake and that they accepted my statement that I had not left Kabul in recent months." REFERENCES -Democratic Republic of Afghanistan: _Background -The Letter from the B.I.A., Bureau Internationale Kabul Radio Pashto News Monitoring Service, New Afghan Information Centre Monthly Bulletin, Peshawar, -Personal Interviews Mr. KOSTMAYER [presiding]. Thank you very much Professor. Our next speaker is Mr. Mohammed Hanif Sadig, delivering the statement of Mr. M. Ghulam. Mr. Sadig. STATEMENT OF GHULAM O., FROM AFGHANISTAN, AS GIVEN BY MR. MOHAMMED HANIF SADIG, A RELATIVE Mr. SADIG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As my friend Prof. Tom Gouttierre, stated, beside the genocide and the massacre that is everyday taking place in Afghanistan, and I have 100 stories from many of my relatives and friends about the individual tortures and shocks and beatings. Today I have a story of, testimony of, one of my relatives, Mr. Ghulam O., who due to an emergency in his family couldn't come by himself, and I have the duty to deliver his statement and testimony. My name is Ghulam Omer. I'm 24 years old and from Kabul, Afghanistan. I studied 3 years, from 1978 to 1980 in the Department of Agriculture of Kabul University. While I was a student there, I worked with the Mujahideen. Mujahideen means the "freedom fighters." My work involved the distribution of underground literature at the university and around Kabul, an activity often carried out evenings and nights. In March and April 1980, there were student demonstrations at the university. One afternoon, a few days later, I was called out of the classroom and into the principal's office. Inside the principal's office were two or three officers from the Khad. Khad means, Khidaamati Ittila'aatyi Dowlati, the state information police. They said, we know you are working with the Mujahideen. At this point, one of the Khad officers pulled out a pistol, put it in my back and told me to walk to a jeep waiting outside. I was then taken to the Sedarat, the former official residence of the Prime Minister in Kabul, which connects to Khad offices. Inside the Khad building I was interrogated about my activities with the Mujahideen. When I denied being involved, I was hit with an electric shock baton. They tied me with a belt to the chair and gave me electric shocks with a shock baton several times. They then waited for about another 10 minutes, but I refused to talk. Then they took my shoes off and connected two electric wires to my toes and did this to both feet. They then plugged in the cord and pressed a button which started the machine. The last thing I noticed was the needle on the machine was steady at number 60. Then I lost consciousness. When I came to, the belt was off but there was a bright light focused on me. Again, I was asked to tell about my activities with Mujahideen. Again, I refused, and again I was given electric shocks. This time, the shocks were so powerful that I jumped completely off the floor and became unconscious a second time. When I came to this time, I was very tired and in great pain, I had difficulty moving. The next day I was interrogated again and told that I would be given electric shocks again if I did not talk. The Khad officers showed me pictures and asked me to identify those in the photographs. I did not know them. I was brought food but I could not eat, I was so frightened. By this time, it was the second night of my detention. I was taken into the same torture room as the previous day, put in the same chair and strapped into it with the same belt. This time, after being bound in the chair, I was facing two men who were pointing machine guns at me. Another person attached the wires. Again, the questioning began and again I refused to talk. The machine was turned on and I was given three separate shocks from these wires. In addition, I was beaten with the electric sticks all over my body. The interrogators and torturers were heavy, giant-like people and they looked so fierce staring at me. As they were beating me with the electric shock batons, they also hit me with their fists and kicked me. They also cursed me with very bad words, which for Afghans is even worse than the physical abuse. This made me even more nervous. Again, I lost consciousness. Water was thrown on me and when I came to, I was shaking and talking uncontrollably. Again, there were questions, again I was shocked. By this time, I was very weak and exhausted and not having eaten anything since I was taken from the university. It was like being in a trance-like sleep but not sleeping. My thoughts swirled around in my head. The following morning I was given tea and bread for breakfast. No one came into my cell all day. On the third night, I was taken into the same torture room, put in the same chair, and tortured again. The third session was the worst of the torture sessions. I was given electric shocks until I became unconscious and when I came to I found myself back in the first room. I stayed there until early the following morning when I was taken into an office where there were different people asking the same questions. Finally, I was taken to a waiting jeep with Khad officials. We started driving and when I recognized that we were along the road to Jalabad, I knew I was being taken to Pul-i-Charki in Kabul. When we arrived at Pul-i-Charki, the guards opened the gate and the jeep drove inside the compound. I was taken out of the jeep. I was held in this prison for 6 months. In my prepared statement, I give additional details of this imprisonment. Then I was taken back to the Sedarat in Kabul and released. When I arrived home and knocked on the door, my sister began to cry and ran inside the house. My relatives came out to celebrate that I was back. After about 15 to 20 days our family arranged to leave the country via Pakistan. Since we were under surveillance, we really had no choice. We arranged to leave in fruit trucks where we hid under crates. The women left first. The men followed. The children were given sleeping pills so as not to make noises at the checkpoints. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [The prepared statement of Mr. Ghulam O. follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF GHULAM O., FROM AFGHANISTAN My name is Ghulam 0. I am 24 years old and from Kabul, Afghanistan. I studied 3 years, from 1978 to 1980, at the Department of Agriculture of Kabul University. While I was a student there, I worked with the Mujahideen. This involved distribution of under ground literature at the university and around Kabul, an activity often carried out evenings and nights. In March and April 1980 there were student demonstrations at the university. One afternoon a few days later, I was called out of the classroom and into the principal's office. Inside the principal's office were 2 or 3 officers for the Khad, the State Information Police. The principal said, "We know you're working with the Mujahideen." At this point one of the Khad officers pulled out a pistol, put it in my back, and told me to walk to a jeep waiting outside. I was then taken to the Sedarat, the former official residence of the Prime Minister in Kabul, which connects to Khad offices. Inside the Khad building I was interrogated about my activities with the Mujahideen. When I denied being involved, I was hit with an electric shock baton. They tied me with a belt to the chair They and gave me electric shocks with a shock baton several times. then waited for about another 10 minutes, but I refused to talk. Then they took my shoes off and connected 2 electric wires to my toes and did this to both feet. They then plugged in the cord and pressed a button which started the machine. The last thing I noticed was the needle gauge on the machine was steady at number 60. Then I lost consciousness. When I came to, the belt was off, but there was a bright light focused on me. Again I was asked to tell about my activities with Mujahideen. Again I refused, and again I was given electric shocks. This time the shocks were so powerful that I jumped completely off the floor and became unconscious a second time. When I came to this time, I was very tired and in great pain. I had difficulty moving. The next day I was interrogated again and told that I would be given electric shocks again if I did not talk. The Khad officers showed me pictures and asked me to identify those in the photographs. I did not know them. I was brought food, but I could not eat. I was so frightened. I was By this time it was the second night of my detention. taken into the same torture room as the previous day, put in the same chair and strapped into it with the same belt. This time after being bound in the chair I was facing 2 men who were pointing machine guns at me. Another person attached the, wires. Again the questioning began, and again I refused to talk. The machine was turned on, and I was given 3 separate shocks from these wires. In addition, I was |