class of the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the spring session of 1983, Farida repeatedly lost her train of thought.

She had great

She complained of insomnia and lapsed memory.
difficulty walking and appeared physically shaky, lacking in
energy and considerably aged beyond her years.

II. Another case involves a 25-year-old student from Mazari Sharif who was arrested following student disturbances in that town in June of 1980. "My interrogation started the day after my arrival and this soon fell into a regular pattern. I was called for questioning every night after midnight and questioned for one-and-a-half to two hours. It was never longer than this because the sessions inevitably ended in my passing out. From the first night torture was used. I was beaten regularly and continuously all over my body. Within a few days my arms and legs were blue from injuries and my clothes were soaked in blood. Never during my time in Sadarat was I allowed a change of clothes. I was constantly asked to confess to belonging to one of the Islamic groups and to give names of others. The truth was I knew very little and had done little more than participate once in some stone-throwing."

"After the third evening's interrogation they began using electric shock treatment. This was administered to my fingers

and toes which were attached by wires to a crank telephone.

There were usually four to five Khad men in the room where I was tortured. One could only endure the electric shocks and

beatings for so long, although they sometimes would try and rerevive me with cold water. As far as I could ascertain, my treatment was standard and others in my cell had been subjected to similar degradations. We did not talk much. Indeed, as now

you question me, I hardly recall any detailed conversations. We were truly a pitiful sight; within days of being in Sadarat we were almost transformed into living corpses."

III. Yet another case involves a former student who was 16 at the time of his arrest in September 1980. After being held for 2 months, he was released but was arrested again in August 1981. On both occasions he was tortured by the Khad. His description follows.

"The first session began at 3 p.m. I was asked four questions, my name, age and occupation; the fourth question related to my membership in the Hizbi Islami. I admitted I was a member and was then asked to name other members in my group at high school. I refused. Immediately one of the Khad officers hit They started beating

me across the head. I fell to the floor. and kicking me. This pattern of beating continued. There was never any single questioning session when I wasn't beaten. On 15 occasions I was subjected to electric shock treatment. On the first occasion this occured after I had been detained in Sadarat for one week. During an interrogation session I was told by one of the Khad officers, there were always five or six present, that I was free to telephone home and inform my family that I was under arrest. There was a telephone in the room and he told

IV.

me I could use it. I picked up the telephone and began to dial. The telephone was wired to give an electric shock. I immediately fell to the floor; I remember the officers in the room laughing. Thereafter, I was subjected to other forms of electric shock treatment either with wires attached to my fingers or to my toes." The final testimony is that of a merchant, mistakenly arrested and held for three days, and tortured before his release. "At the time of my arrest, which occured at about 9:30 at night, I was treated with some respect by the four officers who had come to my house. As I mentioned earlier, all were in plain clothes, but introduced themselves as Khad officers and said that they wished to discuss with me my recent movements. However,

when we arrived at the Ministry of the Interior, their behavior soon changed. I was taken to my cell where there were two other prisoners, a building worker from Kalakan, north of Kabul, and a civil servant from Nangrahar province, who worked in the Ministry of Agriculture. The building worker had clearly been badly beaten. His clothes were covered in blood and his arms severely bruised. After I had been in the cell for two or three hours, I was brought out for interrogation. I was told that the Khad had

information that I had visited Mazari Sharif and Kandahar in recent weeks and that my purpose in so doing was to sow discontent against the government. Whilst my political sympathies are

certainly opposed to the Babrak Karmal government, it was completely untrue that I had visited these cities.

Indeed, I had not been

outside Kabul for more than six months.

I protested my innocence

I was then

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. 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. 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

At

accepted my statement that I had not left Kabul in recent months."

REFERENCES

-Democratic Republic of Afghanistan:

Background

Briefing on Amnesty International's Concerns,

-The Letter from the B.I.A., Bureau Internationale
Afghanistan, Paris, 1982-84.

Kabul Radio Pashto News Monitoring Service, New
Delhi, 1982-84.

Afghan Information Centre Monthly Bulletin, Peshawar,
Pakistan, 1982-84.

-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.