FLASH BACK TO THE WORLD OF HISTORY AND EVENTS.

Torturing the Other: Who is the Barbarian? Towards the end of J. M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, his protagonist the Magistrate speculates about how much pain he, Coetzeean ageing, out-of-shape man, will be able to withstand.  In this elliptical novel, which owes a debt to Kafka's 'The Penal Colony', the Magistrate is about to be tortured at the hands of the Empire.  Despite years of loyal service, his antagonist Colonel Joll believes that the Magistrate has betrayed the Empire because of his romantic entanglement with a girl from the enemy 'barbarian' community. The passage encapsulates many of torture's most important features. While the Magistrate's anxieties revolve around what degree of pain he can tolerate, that is not the purpose of torture.  Instead, the Magistrate's tormentors reduce him to a body or a thing that is incapable of thought or political ideals. Coetzee conveys this in part through the use of the third person singular ge...

Viral video of couple brutally beaten in Bengal: What happened and why is the TMC under scrutiny? A disturbing video clip depicting a brutal assault on a couple allegedly involved in an illicit relationship has sparked widespread outrage in West Bengal.  The incident, which took place in Chopra, Uttar Dinajpur district, was reportedly sanctioned by a local 'salishi sabha' (Kangaroo court). Police investigation and response The West Bengal Police responded by registering a case after verifying the authenticity of the video.  As per a PTI report, Islampur Police Superintendent Joby Thomas K confirmed the initiation of raids to apprehend the main accused and promised a prompt investigation into the motive behind the attack. "We have watched the video clip on social media and have taken immediate legal action," stated Joby Thomas K. In the video, a man is seen viciously beating a woman, causing her visible distress, while also attacking another man with a bamboo stick. Th...

The desecration of corpses on 6 October 1976: who, how and why It is not the number of the deceased (40) that has made the massacre of students at Thammasat University on 6 October 1976 linger in the memories of no small number of people, so much as images showing the unthinkably savage actions committed against the victims.  But we would be mistaken to think that it was only those most repulsive actions that led to the deaths of people that day. From careful study of the available evidence, we have found only one person who lost their life due to mob vigilante violence or torture.  Instead, bodies were often brutally treated after the victims had already died.  Several victims lost their lives from bullets or explosions, but their bodies continued to be assailed long after the life had left them.  The images of 6 October that have circulated in the aftermath are then images of crowds egging each other on to desecrate the deceased. That knowledge may provide us some ...

Disabled woman suspected of child kidnap, beaten to death A disabled woman was brutally murdered by a mob who accused her of being a child kidnapper. Footage shows the woman, Otera Bibi, being humiliated by villagers who tied her to a tractor before beating her to death. They had suspected the 42-year-old, who was mentally disabled, of trying to kidnap a 10-year-old girl. Otera, who lived with her parents, had walked out of the home and stopped outside a hut, it is reported. That was when she was set upon by the mob, who were on high alert following a child kidnapping in the area the previous month. The incident happened in in West Bengal, India. Locals attacked her with sticks and stones, ripped off her clothes and shaved her head, a witness said. It is believed she tried to protest her innocence, but witnesses could not understand what she was saying. Police took Otera to hospital, but she died from her injuries, reports said. Murshidabad Superintendent of Police, Mukesh, said: “A mo...

Iran – Human rights: Two Pakistani women hanged Staff Writer Staff Writer 10 years ago NCRI – The Iranian regime’s henchmen hanged five prisoners on Saturday in the main prison in city of Zahedan, in southeastern Iran.  The five inmate that included two women citizens of Pakistan had been arrested on drug related charges. The Saturday’s hanging of five prisoners in Zahedan was not announced in official media.  Last week, on Thursday, September 17, 2014, at least 17 prisoners were hanged in cities across Iran, including five in public.  The executions were carried out in cities of Shiraz, Marvdasht, Kerman and Bandar Abbas.  A group of four prisoners were hanged in public in Shiraz while another group of eight sent to gallows in Shabab Prison in city of Kerman. Reacting to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report to the UN General Assembly, which referred to some aspects of the catastrophic situation of human rights in Iran, the Iranian regime’s chief justice, Mohamma...

This man was executed for murdering a judge in Iran, not for preaching the gospel in Syria The image has been shared more than 300 times in multiple Facebook posts, including here, here and here. It shows a man smiling and waving, with a blue noose attached to a crane and draped around his neck.  “This guy was sentenced to death in Syria for preaching the Gospel,” reads the posts. “He went to the gallows laghing (sic) because he knew his time had come to meet his saviour - Jesus Christ.  Do you know Him? Do you have such hope beyond this life that you can laugh in the face of death?” A reverse image search of the picture leads to articles about two Iranian men being hanged for murder. An AFP report (reprinted here) from 2007 explains that Majid Kavousifar (the man in the picture) and his nephew Hossein Kavousifar were convicted of murdering an Iranian judge and hanged from cranes in Tehran on August 2, 2007. The execution took place on the spot where the judge was murdered in ...

Horrifying moment women paraded naked through streets in Pakistan for 'stealing' WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT: Four women are forcibly stripped naked and made to parade through a street by an angry mob after being accused of shoplifting in Pakistan Footage shows four women being stripped and thrashed as punishment for allegedly stealing from a local shop in Pakistan – before being "paraded" naked through the streets. The group were accused of shoplifting in Faisalabad, Punjab, and were said to have been accosted by locals. In the video, the women enter the shop where a man is working and appear to take items off the shelves. The shop employee leaves the premises and the women soon follow suit. In a later clip, one of the women is crying as she crouches on the floor and the camera pans around to film what is happening outside. Another woman is dragged in by three men by her ankles and wrists and then dumped on the floor near the first woman while looking visibly upset....