Electric Shock Torture and the Spread of Stun Technology

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
EXTERNAL ARCHIVE

Arming the Torturers
Electric Shock Torture and the Spread of Stun Technology

Introduction

Amnesty International has for many years opposed torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees in all cases without reservation, and is therefore extremely concerned at reports indicating that the spread of hand-held electro-shock weapons amongst law enforcement officers is contributing to the incidence of torture and such ill-treatment.

The portability and ease with which electro-shock weapons can be concealed, means that the incapacitating, painful and other effects of such weapons may be attractive to unscrupulous security, police and prison officers, especially since traces of their use on victims can afterwards be difficult to detect. Aware of the growing international marketing of electro-shock weapons, Amnesty International is publishing this report to warn the international community of this danger. As a first preventive step, the organization is calling on governments to immediately prohibit the transfer of such weapons to all countries where routine torture or instances of electric shock torture and ill-treatment are reported.

Despite their stated adherence to the basic principles of international human rights law, including ratifying international human rights treaties, governments continue to permit electric shock torture and ill-treatment in prisons, detention centres and police stations. These violations have been documented by Amnesty International in 50 countries since 1990, and in 18 of these countries there was evidence of the use of hand-held electro-shock weapons in such violations (see Appendix 1). The overall trend indicates that the number of countries where such torture is carried out using modern electro-shock stun weapons is growing, and there appears to be little or no effective international and national regulation by governments of the design, use and trade in such weapons. The number of supply companies has also grown substantially since the invention of modern stun technology in the late 1970s, and Amnesty International has identified over 100 such companies as having offered to supply modern stun weapons for sale since 1990, although legal prohibitions on the use and trade of such weapons in some European countries and in Canada mean that some companies have only offered to provide such weapons clandestinely or through brokering via third countries while some claim no longer to supply (see Appendix 2).

Electro-shock weapons have been deliberately, and often repeatedly, applied to sensitive parts of prisoners' bodies, including their armpits, necks, faces, chests, abdomens, the inside parts of their legs, the soles of their feet, inside their mouths and ears, on their genitals and inside their vagina, on their back and rectums. Such practices are often combined with other forms of torture and ill-treatment, including psychological torture, as described in this report. Depending on the application and the individual, immediate effects include severe pain, loss of muscle control, nauseous feelings, convulsions, fainting, and involuntary defecation and urination. Longer-term effects from electric shock torture can reportedly include muscle stiffness, impotence, damage to teeth, scarring of skin, hair loss, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression, chronic anxiety, memory loss and sleep disturbance. In cases where there are physical signs of electric shock torture such as skin reddening and scarring, these usually fade within some weeks.

A field telegraph used to administer eletric shock torture on detainees in Turkey. First discovered in 1980.

Since the 1970s, Amnesty International has campaigned against the misuse of electric cattle prods (known as picana' in Latin America) to torture and ill-treat prisoners (For example: In Uruguay, a young man detained in March 1993 in the 3rd District police station of Montevideo was tortured by the police with what he described as electric prods to make him confess to 14 counts of robbery. A judge confirmed the injuries and two electric cattle prods were seized from the police station. In Sudan, Brigadier Mohamed Ahmad al-Rayah al-Faki, was arrested during August 1991, and claimed that he was raped and sexually abused while undergoing torture which also included being shocked with what he called electric cattle prods.) ,as well as other devices and methods designed to inflict electric shocks on prisoners (Such as devices using mains electricity and crank generators. A Sri Lankan refugee told the UK Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture how during his detention in 1989 his interrogators suspended him upside down while naked, and, during questioning, beat him with sticks on his chest, back and abdomen until he lost consciousness. He recalled something, possibly a wire, being touched to his body, resulting in uncontrollable shaking. He was later told by another detainee that it was a small telephone-like device with a handle, which when turned on produced an electric current - probably not a modern stun weapon, but apparently just as potentially damaging.)

However, increasingly torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment has been carried out using different types of modern, high-pulse and high-voltage electro-shock "stun" batons and smaller devices called "stun guns" (which can resemble an electric razor). The batons can sometimes at first sight look like cattle prods, but the new high-pulse "stun technology" is designed to be used on humans. Unlike cattle prods, which can be used to immobilise or cause localised pain in the human body, modern stun weapons are designed to temporarily incapacitate a person and can inflict severe pain in a few seconds or even milli-seconds (see further below in Part 3).

Stun technology was initially developed in the United States of America (USA) during the 1970s. By 1982, Amnesty International was campaigning to prevent the transfer of electro-shock batons from the United Kingdom (UK) to South Korea following the suspension of an export licence for this purpose by the US government because of allegations of torture. South Korea began domestic production of stun weapons around this time. By 1985 Amnesty International was appealing to the government of Taiwan to prohibit the use by police of electro-shock batons which they had acquired on their own initiative from South Korea. Amnesty International pointed out that "the only apparent purpose for which electro-shock batons might be used by police officers against people in their custody would be to torture or ill-treat", but the government of Taiwan said such batons were for the self-defence of police officers. Taiwan subsequently became a leading producer and exporter of electro-shock weapons, and set up manufacturing facilities in mainland China where torture with such weapons is commonplace. A UK company manager has since described how his company supplied electro-shock batons to China one year after the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in 1989, stating that: The Chinese wanted to copy them.

Five stun guns and a taser gun displayed a police equipment exhibition.
During the 1980s and 1990s production of stun weapons began in several other countries such as Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Mexico and South Africa (see Appendix 2 for a full list). Other new products entered the international markets from the USA such as electro-shock riot shields, electro-shock stun belts (using a remote control - see further below), tasers (a device which fires darts connected to a 4 or 5 metre wire into a victim's body or clothes so that an electric shock using roughly 10 watts at 50,000 volts for two to three seconds is inflicted from a distance), and stun guns which also shoot tear gas.

Some companies manufacture their own stun weapons or manufacture under licence products designed elsewhere, while other companies involved in the trade have only been engaged in the marketing of stun weapons through specialist magazines and through international exhibitions on security equipment. Recently, for instance, Taiwanese stun batons were exhibited for sale in Shanghai; Brazilian stun batons were exhibited for sale in Washington; Chinese and Russian stun batons were exhibited for sale in Paris; French stun guns were exhibited for sale in Berlin; and South African stun batons and riot shields were exhibited for sale in both Israel and in the Palestinian Authority. Those invited to such exhibitions include a large proportion of police and military officials. However, the marketing of stun weapons in the USA, France, Taiwan, Israel, South Africa and Japan is also increasingly aimed at private security companies and even private consumers. In the USA this is carried out through mail order magazines, gun shops, uniform stores and general merchandise shops, and some even believe school teachers should use stun guns for classroom control.

International trade data on the transfer of electro-shock weapons has not been disclosed by governments. As a result, increases in the spread of such weapons can only be deduced from (i) the increasing number of companies trading in stun weapons, (ii) claims by the manufacturing companies of increases in their production and sales, and (iii) the incidence of torture and ill-treatment with such weapons some of the accounts of which are published below in this report.

- PART 2 -

RECENT CASES OF THE USE OF ELECTRO-SHOCK WEAPONS FOR TORTURE OR ILL-TREATMENT

The following brief reports illustrate the range of situations in which torture and ill-treatment using modern electro-shock weapons can occur.

Algeria

Torture appears to have become widespread in the country. It is practised by police, the gendarmerie, and military security personnel mainly to extract confessions from detainees about their alleged participation -and that of others - in killings and other attacks against individuals and properties. Such confessions are regularly used, often as sole evidence, to convict the detainees and others named during interrogation. Electric shock torture is one of the methods of torture used against detainees, and commonly involves electric shocks to the ears, genitals and other sensitive parts of the body.

A detainee (name withheld) in Blida Military Prison testified:I was arrested on 28 February 1993 by military personnel and a few civilians, most of them hooded. I was taken to Bouzareah where I spent the night...Next day, I was called by a guard to a room away from the cell wing... In the room, there were three men, one of whom asked the detainee questions about many other people. His testimony continues:

...Then he began to kick me hard and even used an electric leather truncheon with three metal knobs as a stick, and pulled out my beard with his hands. Then he asked for the metal bedstead...he lay me on the bedstead and [the other man] raised my hands high and handcuffed them and put some clips on them and said Ill give you some earrings, son of a *****. Then he set off the electrical apparatus several times, ignoring my shouts and kicks as my legs were free. [The other] beat me, especially my stomach, with his electric truncheon - when I said that I had a cardiac prosthesis he said hed recharge it for me. I had bitten my tongue and the blood was flowing... Many times I nearly lost consciousness as the electric shocks got stronger... (See Algeria - Deteriorating human rights under the state of emergency (AI Index: MDE 28/04/93), March 1993)

Bulgaria

Incidents of ill-treatment by members of the Bulgarian special police forces dealing with organized crime have occurred repeatedly over the last couple of years, and Amnesty International is extremely concerned by what seems to have become a pattern of police violence. On 23 November 1995, a group of around 20 police officers belonging to the Bulgarian special forces, the so-called Red Berets (Cherveny barety), carried out a raid on a cafe in the Druzhba district of Sofia ( See Bulgaria - Alleged ill-treatment by the Bulgarian special police forces in the Druzhba(it) quarter and Rakovski (it) stadium in Sofia (AI Index: EUR 15/02/96) February 1996.) Eye-witnesses to the raid said that all police officers were masked, some wore uniforms, others were plain clothed and two or three wore flakjackets with the insignia police on them. They were armed with revolvers, automatic Kalashnikovs and electric batons. Four Red Berets stormed the cafe, and, without having asked to see peoples identification papers, ordered everyone at gunpoint to leave, while the others blocked off the surrounding streets. They then started to kick the cafe patrons and beat them with their batons on their heads and bodies. Witnesses to the incident stated that the beatings went on for about 15 minutes. Six of the victims had to undergo emergency surgery.

China

The use of torture in China is widespread and far higher than suggested by official government statistics on the number of investigations. The use of electric batons is one of the most common forms of torture. It has become so widespread and endemic that it is difficult to document the number of victims.

Many prisoners held in prison-factories or labour camps claim they are beaten when they cannot perform the required work or protest about long hours of work. At Hanyang prison, Hubei province, political prisoners have alleged that they were frequently beaten and abused, and that electric batons were often used. An appeal letter received by Amnesty International dated March 1993, and signed in the name of political prisoners held at Hanyang prison, described how one prisoner, Ye Youwen, was beaten: [Ye Youwen] was passing by the iron gate of the brigade camp and was ordered by a guard to stop. He was slow to react, being very short-sighted, but the guard considered that he was being deliberately offensive. After Ye opened the gate the guard beat him with an electric baton on the body repeatedly until Ye collapsed on the ground. The next day, we found that...[Ye] had suffered such damage to his nervous system that he could not eat or drink.... (See China: Five Years after Tiananmen (AI Index: ASA 17/20/94), June 1994) The appeal letter went on to document several other cases of the use of electric batons as punishment for resisting reform-through-labour.

Detained in Fuxin, Liaoning province in early 1995, four girls aged under 16 and two young men were repeatedly hit, kicked and given shocks with an electric baton by a Public Security section chief intent on making them confess to hooligan and promiscuous behaviour.

Tibetans held on suspicion of supporting Tibetan independence are also frequently tortured. Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan monk who had spent 33 years in prison and labour camps, smuggled torture instruments out of Tibet into India. He displayed several electric batons on a UK television program (see cover photo), explaining: This is the worst thing - an electric cattle prod. They use this on your body. If they press that button, your whole body will be in shock. If they do it for too long, you lose consciousness but you do not die. If they press this button, you can die. They used it all the time on my body. They tortured me because I was speaking out for independence and I will continue to speak out.

In the same TV program, two brothers, Pasang, aged 19, and Tenzin, aged 11, described how they were tortured in prison. Pasang told viewers how They poked an electric baton in my face, my mouth, while 11-year-old Tenzin said, They put the electric baton inside my mouth...It burnt me badly and gave me a wound. It was terrible. They treated me very badly. Both brothers managed to escape to India. (Escape from Tibet, Yorkshire Television, broadcast on Independent Television Network First, Tuesday 28 March 1995)

According to unofficial sources, Damchoe Pemo, a Tibetan woman detained in Lhasa on 20 May 1993, miscarried a week after police forced her to remain standing for at least 12 hours and beat her with electric batons. A Lhasa trader in her mid-twenties, she was reportedly four or five months pregnant when she was detained, and was apprehended on suspicion of being a member of a pro-independence organization. ( See Persistent human rights violations in Tibet (AI Index: ASA 17/18/95), May 1995)

In a report made public in March 1995, Catholics from two villages in Lingshou county, Hebei province, claimed to have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and heavy fines by local officials for breaches of the government birth control policy. A letter of appeal stated: They raided houses and arrested everyone, whether young or old...they even took away as hostages sick people who could not get up from their bed. Those allegedly persecuted included a 40-year-old woman who was ill. She was reportedly brutally beaten with an electric baton..., chained and tortured at night. According to the appeal and other sources, detainees were beaten and tortured with the aim of accelerating the payment of fines. Some reportedly received electric shocks on their tongue with electric batons or live wires. (See Amnesty International Urgent Action, UA 62/95 (AI Index: ASA 17/15/95) 14 March 1995)

In a recent case, Chen Longde, a pro-democracy activist from Zhejiang province, attempted to commit suicide by jumping from a third story window in an attempt to avoid repeated beatings by a guard at the Luoshan labour camp. On 15 August 1996, he was reportedly kicked, punched and inflicted with electric shocks from a baton used by a prison officer. The beatings started again two days later. When Chen Longde jumped through a window to escape the beatings, he suffered serious injuries. Labour camp officials reportedly admitted later that he had jumped through the window on 17 August after being beaten with electro-shock batons. (See Peoples Republic of China, Chen Longde is Tortured (AI Index: ASA 17/88/96) 19 September 1996)

Egypt

Torture of political prisoners in Egypt is widespread and continues to take place in the State Security Investigations Department (SSI) headquarters in Lazoghly Square, Cairo, and in SSI branches elsewhere in the country, as well as in police stations and firaq al-Amn (security brigades). The most commonly cited torture methods reported are electric shocks, beatings, suspension by the wrist or ankles, extinguishing of cigarettes on the body and various forms of psychological torture.

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) reported in 1996 that Islamist detainees are routinely transferred from the high security prison at Tora to the SSI headquarters to be regularly tortured with electric shocks. The Secretary General of the EOHR stated that detainees have testified that electro-shock batons have been used against them in the SSI buildings. Amnesty International is aware of a South African company which attempted to export electro-shock batons to Egypt during 1996.

Lebanon

Reports of torture and ill-treatment of criminal and some political prisoners have been received from Lebanon. Methods described include severe beatings on all parts of the body, falaqa (beatings on the soles of the feet), suspension by the arms from a pulley, and electric shocks. A Lebanese prisoner who was held at the Ministry of Defence in April 1994 stressed that the Ministry was not a prison by any standard. It is more of a torture centre falling directly under the control of the Intelligence Services and described different types of torture he had suffered, including The Flying Carpet:

They would put us flat facing the ground, the chair is put on our backs in order to tighten our limbs forcefully against the legs and back of the chair and bend us the opposite way by pulling the rope rigidly between our legs and arms the opposite direction. I do not need to mention the agony and endless torment we get exposed to. The kicking on the head and the electric shocks while in this position resulted in serious damage to our back. We are still suffering from back pain today...They use an electric rod which produces a very high voltage and use it on our eyes, arms, legs, groins and other parts of our bodies. They used to order one of the soldiers to take a photo of us after electrocution in order to show it to us `before we meet our maker.

Another Lebanese prisoner tortured in the same place during the same period said:

I dont know where to start from. The first thing I remember is being tied to a chair with my feet caught between the seat and the back and being hit on the soles of my feet with an electric wire until my feet were bleeding profusely...In a moment of weakness and pain I crumbled and accepted to say what they want me to say in order to avoid any further suffering...From there on I remember that between each and every word I was being subjected to electrical shocks....During all the period from 28 March 1994 until 16 April 1994 I was kept standing, deprived of food, water and sleep for a span of three to four days at a time. I was naked, blindfolded my hands were tied behind my back while I was facing the wall with my legs widely spread apart. They used to walk on my toes, electrocute me at will and at times when I could take no more I used to collapse on the floor...They used to come and wake me up with electric shocks...

Russian Federation

Amnesty International continues to receive numerous reports of ill-treatment in police custody in the Russian Federation.

The organization has urged the Russian authorities to investigate reports which indicate that a group of law enforcement officials exceeded their authority and violated the law by attempting to extract confessions under duress from members of the Christian- Democratic Union of Russia (HDS) working at the Christian Girls Shelter, during illegal searches and interrogations in Moscow Police Station No. 24. In November 1995, three members of the HDS were detained and taken to the Moscow Police Station. During their interrogation by the police, they were asked to give false statements compromising the groups chairman and were threatened, if they refused, with imprisonment, beatings with electrical clubs, or being sent to fight in Chechnya. (See Amnesty International Concerns in Europe (AI Index: EUR 01/01/96), March 1996)

Saudi Arabia

A pattern of torture and ill-treatment, particularly of former members of the Iraqi armed forces, emerged in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. Among the many forms of torture described by victims have been: systematic beatings all over the body, taliq (hanging by the wrists from the ceiling or a high window), falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet) and the administration of electric shocks, including by electro-shock weapons.

Saudi Arabian use of electric batons has not been restricted to Iraqi refugees. Earlier during the Gulf War, the Saudi Arabian secret police tortured prisoners who they suspected of spying for Iraq. One victim, Muhammad (The Torture Trail, Channel Four Dispatches,11 January 1995. Muhammads name was changed to protect his identity.), described on UK television how he was tortured regularly every night:

The secret police handcuffed me and put legcuffs around my ankles. A bar was put between my legs. Then they started beating me up with the electronic sticks. For many hours they tortured me on the soles of my feet. Being hit with an electric baton not only made me vomit, but I lost control of everything. I lost control of my bowels, my water, I just could not control anything in my body. I was left in my own vomit and urine all night. That is how they want you to be during a torture. (Channel Fours Dispatches: The Torture Trail, 11 January 1995)

On 23 May 1994, Gulum Mustafa, a Pakistani national, was said to have been severely tortured in a detention centre for drug offenders in Jeddah shortly before he was transferred to Priman Prison. The torture included insertion of a metal stick into his anus and electric shocks. He reportedly was left bleeding and unable to walk, and was not given any medical attention. He has since been released and deported to Pakistan.

South Africa

Amnesty International has received reports from South Africa for many years of detainees being tortured with electric shocks during interrogation. During the often violent run-up to the first non-racial elections in April 1994, there were frequent reports of arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment by members of the security forces. On 19 February 1994, Thebiso Lephoto and seven others, including two 14-year-olds, were arrested in Thokoza township by soldiers and taken to Steenpunt army base. There, they were stripped, beaten and tortured. Among other tortures inflicted on them, they alleged that they had been subjected to electric shock torture on different parts of their bodies, including their genitals, arms, legs, feet and fingers. Thebiso Lephoto said that two soldiers, who were wearing balaclavas, used a device that looked like a small black cattle prod, with two things sticking out of it. [They pressed a] trigger and then we felt the shocks, to our private parts. We had been stripped of our clothes and cold water thrown over our private parts. We were lying on the floor. He said that he was shocked three times in this manner, and that the shocks were very great. Each time his body jumped, he fainted.

Since the elections, there have continued to be reports of torture primarily of suspects in criminal investigations but also of members of marginalized groups such as street children and refugees, by the police and the army. The allegations have implicated in particular members of the police murder and robbery squads and other special investigation units. Although the possession or sale of electro-shock weapons is not prohibited in South Africa, the new constitution prohibits torture, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

On 31 July 1996, 16 railway commuters died and 80 others sustained serious injuries during a stampede at Tembisa station in Johannesburg which was triggered by security guards using electro-shock weapons. These were described by a victim as "black rods ...a stick type of thing, where you control the crowd, sort of, so you don't have visible marks". Amnesty International and local non-governmental organizations called for an independent inquiry into the use of this weaponry and into the security guard industry. The South African Government agreed to an inter-departmental Committee of Inquiry, which reported on 16 August 1996 that the security guards' indiscriminate use of electro-shock batons on commuters in confined spaces caused severe pain, immobilization and panic, thus contributing to the stampede and to the deaths and injuries. The Report stated that "the private security guards used the electric batons for crowd control purposes when in fact the batons are patently inappropriate for that purpose", and that they had received no training in the use of such weapons from a poorly regulated security industry. "In the absence of a legal and regulatory framework for the manufacture, sale and use of electric batons and the absence of conclusive and independent medical research on the effects of the use of the electric batons", the Committee called, amongst other things, for such batons to be banned until reliable and independent medical research confirms that the use of such batons would not subject a person to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. If such confirmation is established, then new specific rules would have to be laid down for their use.

On 31 October 1996, security guards at the University of the Western Cape were accused of using a hand held electro-shock stun baton on a crowd of students seeking to register for study. An eye-witness said that "a suspicious-looking charcoal coloured device..[was]...pointed at a female student. The device made a sound like an electrical short circuit and the student fell back into the crowd screaming...when the door opened again, the same tactics were used." As a result of calls from the Trauma Centre for Victims of Violence and Torture in Cape Town for an urgent investigation, the University ordered an internal inquiry which found that the Campus Protection Services (CPS) had previously requisitioned 10 paralyser stun batons from a local company, and concluded that the use of stun batons by the CPS be suspended indefinitely until the government provides a regulatory framework permitting the use of such instruments in a manner consistent with the right not to be subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The batons were subsequently withdrawn.

United States of America (USA)

In recent years, Amnesty International has expressed concern and published detailed reports about ill-treatment by US law enforcement officers, as well as unlawful killings. Since electro-shock stun weapons were introduced in the 1970s and became fairly widely used by police and prison officers in the USA -although being banned in certain states (see further in Part 3 below) - a number of cases of ill-treatment and deaths using such weapons have been reported, although no national government study of these cases has been carried out. Stun guns, batons and shields, rather than taser guns, have been more widely sold and used.

Dart-firing taser guns
Detailed reports of incidents of taser gun injuries and deaths are not often published, but the range of circumstances suggesting excessive use of force may be illustrated by the following:

Officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, the first major customer of taser guns in 1980, fired taser darts into Rodney King, whose televised beating by police officers preceded the Los Angeles riots in 1992. The sergeant was seen attempting to keep the wires from tearing or tangling, apparently preoccupied with his weapon rather than controlling his officers, while the taser shock made King more vulnerable to the beating. The Los Angeles County Court subsequently recommended that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department replace its taser guns with an alternative gun which fires plastic bullets, but this recommendation was rejected by the Los Angeles County Sheriff.

In March 1993, Michael Bryant was shot by Los Angeles police with a taser gun after falling into a pool, and was then "hogtied" - placed face down in restraints with his hands and ankles tied together from behind. He subsequently died. A coroner found the cause of death to be acute cocaine intoxication and asphyxiation from restraint procedures.

In July 1996, a 29-year-old woman, Kimberly Lashon Watkins, died after being shot by police with a taser gun in Pomona, California. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's department said that she had been driving under the influence of drugs and had crashed into a wall and a parked car, before resisting arrest. The Sheriff's Deputy is reported to have described the taser gun as "a kind of debilitating thing where the shock is supposed to catch you off guard... Something from the charge did not agree with her system." After being shot with the taser gun, Kimberly was taken to hospital where her heart stopped. An autopsy was pending.

Electro-shock shields
Texas state correction authorities stopped the use of stun guns reportedly on medical grounds, but continued to allow prison guards to use electro-shock riot shields when removing prisoners from cells. On 1 December 1995, Texas correctional worker Harry Landis was reported to have collapsed and died after enduring two 45,000 volt shocks while training with a riot shield. (See Anne-Marie Cusac, Stunning Technology, The Progressive, July 1996)

Remote-controlled stun belts
Amnesty International expressed concern in June 1996 over the introduction of remote controlled electro-shock stun belts for use on US prisoners because they appeared designed to degrade and could be misused by officials to deliberately inflict pain, intimidate, humiliate and degrade prisoners. (United States of America: Use of electro-shock belts, Amnesty International, 12 June 1996 (AI Index: AMR 51/45/96)) The belts inflict a powerful electric current through the wearers body. The shock causes severe pain rising during the eight seconds that the current flows and instant incapacitation in the first few seconds. The belts have been proposed for use on prisoners working in chain gangs in Wisconsin, and are increasingly being used on prisoners during judicial hearings. Both of these uses are in contravention of international standards on the treatment of prisoners.

Literature distributed by one of the two US manufacturers clearly indicates how using the belt can result in cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment: After all, if you were wearing a contraption around your waist that by the mere push of a button in someone else's hand, could make you defecate or urinate yourself, what would you do from the psychological standpoint? Wearers are warned that the belt could be activated, from a distance of up to 300 metres, after any outburst or quick movement ... any tampering with the belt ... failure to comply with a verbal command for movement of your person ... [and] any loss of visual contact by the officer in charge (see also Part 3, below). It is reported that the US Bureau of Prisons, as well as the US Marshals service and more than 100 county agencies have obtained stun belts, as well as 16 state correctional agencies, for example Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio and Washington.

The companys sales manual states the "fifty percent of product sales entail two transmitters: one for the court officer and one for the judge", suggesting that judges themselves may be contributing to infringements of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRTP) which expressly prohibit the use of restraints on prisoners when appearing before a judicial authority. Examples of prisoners appearing in US courts wearing such belts which have been activated, include: Edward Valdéz, who in November 1993 was incapacitated in front of waiting jurors after he left the courtroom -- he screamed and crashed into the wall and fell down, and was out for about a minute... --said the California prosecutor; Bruce Sons, who in December 1994 was accidentally incapacitated by the belt while talking to his attorney during a break in a pre-trial hearing in California; James Oswald, a defendant in Wisconsin, who in April 1995 was made to wear a stunbelt and shackles despite appearing in court in a wheelchair. Oswald claimed he was stunned twice and his attorney claimed that the belt was part of an attempt by police to torture his client.

Yugoslavia - Kosovo province

In 1994, over 2,500 people in Yugoslavia were tortured or ill-treated by police primarily because of their ethnic identity. The majority of the victims were ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province which during the 1990s has increasingly suffered chronic, institutionalized police violence.

On 16 September 1993 Bilall Syla, a former officer in the Yugoslav National Army, was arrested and accused of having been involved in the organization of a clandestine ethnic Albanian army in Kosovo. He alleged that while in detention, he was frequently subjected to torture with an electric baton, which was used on his whole body, including his ears, throat and genitals. He was sometimes soaked with water before the electric shock torture. Bilall Syla described two types of electric baton, one with a battery and another type that was plugged in to the electricity supply.

On 27 October 1994 Bilall Idrizi, a member of the Independent Trade Union of Police Employees of Kosovo, was stopped by three state security officers in a street in Pritina and forced into a car. He was taken to an unidentified building and interrogated about his motives for joining a trade union and the unions activities. When his answers failed to satisfy his interrogators, they ordered him to strip naked and then proceeded to punch him and beat him with a rubber truncheon. They also reportedly tortured him with an electric truncheon all over his body, including his genitals.

An ethnic Albanian former police officer, who wishes to remain anonymous, was sentenced in 1995 to two years imprisonment after having spent eight months in pre-trial detention. According to his testimony, he was tortured, often with an electric truncheon, during the 52 days he was held in detention. This torture reportedly took place daily, during the evening and night hours. The former detainee explained how two sorts of electric truncheons were used on him. One type had the shape of electric tongs and was about 40 cm in length. He said that on contact with the body, it released an electric current which caused terrible pain and generated so much light that it was able to light up a dark room. The other kind of weapon was described as resembling an ordinary truncheon, about 50 cm in length, and having at one end two batteries. It was said to produce a similar effect to the other truncheon. According to the former police officer, the pain from being tortured with an electric truncheon continued for a long time. He alleged that after three months he still felt himself incapable of most physiological functions and experienced much pain.

Viet Nam

Amnesty International received reports that Duong The Tung, aged 19, was tortured by police with electro-shock batons in an anteroom at the Ha Noi Peoples Court on 16 April 1996 while awaiting the verdict of his trial in which he confessed to the murder of a police officer and pleaded for clemency. Although in good health when he was removed from the courtroom, Duong The Tung was heard screaming and returned a while later barely able to stand up. He was said to be suffering the effects of the electro-shock torture. Duong The Tung was then sentenced to death in order to avoid the indignation of the people and to preserve discipline and threaten other criminals. The fate of Duong The Tung remains unknown because the government of Viet Nam rarely provides information on executions.

Zaïre

Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners, particularly political detainees, remains widespread in Zaïre. Roberto (Back on the Torture Trail, Channel Four Dispatches, 13 March 1996. Robertos name has been changed to protect his identity), a 50-year-old university professor living as a refugee in Zaïre, was tortured after being arrested for trying to organize a peace forum in 1991. He was taken by the Zaïrian security forces to a detention cell at military headquarters, where he was beaten with sticks. After a short period, an officer came into the cell and ordered his men to stop the beating. He said, It will leave scars and we will get complaints from Amnesty International. Instead, the officer ordered his men to use an electro-shock baton so as to inflict severe pain without leaving such obvious skin marks. (See No pain, no gain, New Statesman & Society, 20 January 1995) For four weeks, Roberto was subjected to torture with electric shocks being applied to his genitals, the base of his spine and other sensitive areas. On most occasions, he vomited, lost control of his bowels and bodily functions and fell unconscious. He recounted his story on UK television (Broadcast 13 March 1996) as follows:

This time they worked on me again with the electronic baton on the nape of the neck and in the genitals and it hurt so much that even now when I speak it is difficult to keep my head still as the back of my neck hurts very much...this type of weapon...I could really call it something really horrible - immoral - because those people who make it for torture they dont test it on their own bodies and they dont know the pain it causes. They do it to make other people suffer quite simply to make money. Its very sad.

In another case, Amnesty International learned that Odong Mbaku Mwiki, a leader of a Zairian civil service trade union, DINAFET, was beaten severely by soldiers on 23 December 1994 during a peaceful protest march in Kinshasa concerning wages. The beating was prompted by his questioning of soldiers who were ordering a woman protestor to strip. When Mr Mwiki awoke in a local clinic where he had been taken for treatment, he was told that he had been hit on the back of the neck with an electro-shock baton by a member of the brigade mobile of the gendarmerie. Odong Mbaku Mwiki remained in the clinic until May 1995, but had lost the use of one arm and walked with difficulty, so could not continue working. A medical rehabilitation centre in Paris had agreed to treat him, but by the end of 1996 the French embassy in Zaire was reported to have refused him a visa to travel to France to undergo treatment.

- PART 3 -

TACKLING THE PROBLEM

The difficulty of detection

It would be wrong to assume that the cases mentioned above are wholly representative of the extent of the problem. Detecting the use of electro-shock weapons in torture and severe ill-treatment can be very difficult, not least because victims are often blindfolded, hooded or otherwise unable to see what is being used to inflict pain on them. Electro-shock weapons can easily be hidden from view. Often on their release, detainees are warned by police or prison officers against reporting the incident. The following case illustrates the difficulty:

In January 1996, it was reported that 12 Cypriot police officers, including some senior officers, faced dismissal following a report by an independent board of inquiry which described an organized system of subjecting detainees to torture aimed at securing confessions. The report followed a visit by the Council of Europes Committee for the Prevention of Torture (ECPT), during which a delegation heard numerous allegations of serious ill-treatment and torture by the police. According to the ECPTs October 1995 report, the delegation met with a certain number of people...who had been in police custody in Limassol Town Police Station between February and November 1992. Nearly all those concerned described in detail the same forms of ill-treatment, including: suspension by the legs with the head just a few centimetres above the ground; blows struck with truncheons or wooden clubs; the application of electric shocks to various parts of the body (including the penis)....

In one case, Stelios Neofitou was beaten on his body and this was carried out with a metal bucket placed over his head which was also hit. He was then handcuffed, stripped and wet with water before being hung upside down and given electric shocks to various parts of his body including his genitals. He saw a police officer holding a baton, about two feet long, apparently made of aluminium. The ECPT delegation stated that, according to those making the allegations, the treatment described above was inflicted late in the evening, during interrogations which lasted through the night. The officers who were said to have inflicted such treatment had their faces covered. The detainees were said, at a certain stage, to have had their heads covered by a kind of cloth bag and to have been surrounded by people who shouted threats and insults.

Despite the above evidence of misuse of electro-shock batons, Cypriot police were seen during 1996 carrying such batons in a riot control situation.

Professionals caring for victims of torture have said that torturers appear to like to use electro-shock weapons partly because torturers think this may not leave permanent marks on the victims body. Nevertheless, detecting the use of electro-shock weapons in torture is still possible through medical analysis. A medical study was undertaken in 1976 by volunteer doctors of Amnesty International in Denmark of three Uruguayan torture survivors who had been kidnapped and tortured with a shock baton or cattle prod in Argentina that year. The victims had been handcuffed and blindfolded and repeatedly subjected to physical blows, cigarette burns and then electrical shocks in a recurring sequence. On examination four weeks later, the survivors were found to have, amongst other physical injuries and mental after-effects, multiple round, reddish scars approximately 1 mm in diameter mainly on the chest, lower spine and thighs which were the result of electrical burns from a "picana". These marks were quite distinct from the 5-7 mm whitish brown scars from cigarette burns, and two thirds of the scars were still evident 12 weeks after the torture. Dr Aage Riis Kjaersgaard and Dr Inge Kempe Genefke, Evidence of Torture in Victims of Torture in Uruguay and Argentina: Case Studies, Amnesty International Danish Medical Group, 1977

Other reports have suggested that modern high pulse stun weapons are less likely to leave obvious skin burn marks for such a length of time, but some victims physical scars may be permanent or long-lasting. In 1995, the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture in London interviewed Rajan (Rajans name has been changed to protect his identity) , a Sri Lankan victim of torture. He described his treatment while in detention in Sri Lanka during August 1990, explaining how he was forced to stand with his back against the wall whilst a baton of approximately 5 cm diameter and one and a half feet in length which made a clicking noise was placed against his right breast, three or four times at intervals. The baton produced an electric shock that caused him to fall to the floor shaking and left him dazed for approximately ten minutes. At the time of interview, Rajan had a faint scar on his breast which he attributed to a burn from the baton. A doctor at the Medical Foundation stated that the scar was compatible with an electric burn.

No physical marks will be apparent if an electro-shock stun gun or baton is used to threaten and intimidate detainees. In October 1996, for example, the Austrian government agreed to the publication of a report by a delegation from the ECPT which contained serious allegations that detainees of Austrian as well as foreign nationality were at risk of grave ill-treatment particularly while detained at the Bureau of Security in Vienna. The Report included the following findings:

"From various sources the delegation received allegations according to which people detained by the Bureau of Security in Vienna during February and March 1994 had received electric shocks inflicted with batons equipped to administer an electric discharge. The delegation of the CPT did not meet any detainees who claimed to have personally received electric shocks. However, several detainees met separately by different members of the delegation alleged having been threatened with electric shocks during interrogation at the Bureau of Security in Vienna. These detainees all described a similar instrument which was a portable device the size of an electric razor one extremity of which had two electrodes, a device which reportedly a police official carried in a personal bag."

Even if physical marks are not found following allegations of electro-shock torture, trained physicians may still identify sequelae of electro-shock torture, for example through psychological evidence.

Actual use and intended use

Virtually all companies which market electro-shock weapons claim in their advertisements that such devices are medically safe and non-lethal if used properly. However, the prohibition on such weapons by a number of governments results from a recognition that they may too easily lead to unnecessary suffering, serious injury and even death given the range of circumstances in which they are used. The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials state that the development and deployment of non-lethal incapacitating weapons should be carefully evaluated in order to minimise the risk of endangering uninvolved persons, and the use of such weapons should be carefully controlled. (Principle 3). Furthermore, the UN Basic Principles require governments to take steps to ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force is not used by law enforcement officers, and that force is used only if other means remain ineffective (Principle 4).

Stun guns and batons

Research conducted and published by the UK Home Office Forensic Science Service in 1990 on a range of earlier lower voltage stun guns made in South Korea, Taiwan and the USA showed that they can cause high levels of pain and incapacitation using a succession of high peak, short duration impulses (as opposed to the low voltage regular alternating current of a cattle prod or low voltage baton which produce localised pain) M N Robinson, C G Brooks and G D Renshaw, Electric Shock Devices and their Effects on the Human Body, Medical Science and Law, 1990, Vol.30, No4, pages 285-300. Victims will experience pain differently. The authors state: In a report outlining an attack with a stun gun, which was subsequently examined in our laboratory, a young woman described extreme pain in the area of her leg where the stun gun was applied. Her leg was jolted by the shock and kept on shaking uncontrollably; she was unable to move for some period of time. Once incapacitation had worn off, her leg remained stiff." The current was found to move along low resistance routes within the human body, for example blood channels and nerve pathways. The impact of stun guns is not affected by layers of clothing over the skin. "For each pulse received there is likely to be a rapid shock extending throughout the body including the brain and central nervous system."

The UK Home Office scientists' report concluded that receiving a discharge for 1 to 2 seconds with a stun gun will probably cause the victim to collapse, and a 3 to 5 second discharge will probably leave the victim "immobilized, incapacitated, left dazed and weak for at least five, perhaps 15 minutes...immediate localised effects are rapidly followed by an incapacitating effect on the whole body." This might produce twitch or tetanic contractions of the local skeletal muscles resulting in jolting and shaking sensations. These effects will vary depending on the contact area and on physiological characteristics of the individual. The victim may receive secondary injuries from the fall. Moreover, the research showed that stun guns have the potential to cause death through loss of coordination of heart muscle contraction (ventricular fibrillation) "if [a current of] only a few microamps are conducted through the heart for a prolonged period." Also, the effects of a stun weapon may become indiscriminate in the sense that other people in contact with the target victim of a stun gun are likely to receive a considerable secondary shock.

Such lethal risks, pain and indiscriminate effects are often denied by advocates of modern stun guns, but usually without offering independent medical evidence. Some companies offer training as a means to ensure safety, but such training is not available to all those able to acquire electro-shock weapons. The human rights content of training courses appears to be weak or non-existent. One US course manual claims that "should an officer misuse or abuse someone with less-than-lethal electronic weaponry, the consequence or error could, at the very worst, be a minor non-permanent injury." The evidence in this report shows how misleading such statements are. US law enforcement officers who have received training in the use of stun guns, report using them variously on assailants for 1 to 2 seconds on the legs, but also on the torso for 3 to 5 seconds. One report in 1992 states that: "Less aggressive officers may experience negative results [the stun gun not inflicting incapacitation]...due to the fact that you must physically make contact and hold that contact for up to six or eight seconds." One design feature in a modern stun gun is an automatic switch-off after 15 seconds of use, which is reactivated after 5 seconds. It would appear, therefore, that prolonged or repeated application of a stun belt, gun or baton constituting severe ill-treatment or torture is not prevented by their technological design and remains an ever-present danger.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the design of stun weapons led by US producers shifted towards the use of increasingly high voltages. In the early 1980s, advertisements by suppliers described batons with less than 10,000 volts but by the mid 1990s advertisements were describing the weapons as using between 50,000 and 250,000 volts on a low amperage. Such data on voltages was often the only technical information provided, and even the power in watts was not indicated. These measurements are not an accurate description of the capacity to inflict neuromuscular incapacitation since this also varies with the amount of energy emitted in each of the very short pulses that a stun weapon delivers, and with the number of pulses delivered in each second - assuming that other variables such as the battery capacity and condition, the leakage of current from the weapon, production tolerances, and resistance from different types of clothing as well as skin, muscle, fat and bone are all considered be broadly similar, which in real situations they are not. (See for example "Stun Guns: an independent report" published in 1994 by T'Prina Technology, Aurora, CO, USA. Note that this report does not discuss the safety of the human targets of stun guns, but only the safety of the users.)

Electro-shock shields
Following the death of Harry Landis, a Texas prison officer, in December 1995, the manufacturer of the electro-shock shield claimed there was no connection between the two shocks which Landis received in training and his sudden death after the second shock, but this was refuted by the Coryell County justice of the peace who said that the autopsy showed Landis died as a result of cardiac dysrhythmia due to a coronary blockage following the shocks. An engineer who subsequently conducted tests on the shield said: The manufacturer puts in its literature that the shield will not hurt anyone, including people with heart conditions. But they have not done studies on people at all. They conducted their tests on animals - anaesthetized animals. Do you see the danger here? (See Anne-Marie Cusac, 1996, op cit)

Taser guns
These guns shoot two wire-trailing darts with hooks over a distance of between 15 and 30 feet using a smokeless gunpowder. When the hooks affix to the victims body or clothing, the incapacitating shock is inflicted on impact or by using the guns trigger. Although a US company which makes the "taser" gun cites a US Consumer Protection Safety Commission report which describes the taser gun as "non-lethal to normal, healthy adults", a forensic pathologist has argued that:

"certain medical conditions, including drug use and heart disease, may increase the risk that the taser will be lethal...the 16 taser-related deaths in Los Angeles indicate a failure of the taser as a non-lethal weapon since its use did not prevent fatal results. If we eliminate those [taser-related] deaths in which gunshot wounds, blunt force trauma, or physical restraint were deemed important factors, then we have nine individuals who were alive and active, collapsed on tasering, and did not survive. In my opinion, the taser contributed to at least these nine deaths...It seems only logical that a device capable of depolarizing skeletal muscle can also depolarise heart muscle and cause fibrillation under certain circumstances." (Terence B Allen, MD, Discussion of Effects of the Taser in Fatalities involving Police Confrontation, in Journal of Forensic Sciences, USA, 1991, pages 956-958)

The fish-hook-like darts of taser guns are not easily removed from the human body unless the skin is lacerated or ripped open, and police are advised to take victims to hospital. One study found that, between July 1980 and December 1985, a Los Angeles emergency clinic admitted 218 patients after being shot by police with taser guns, and that 76% were tasered for what the authors describe as bizarre and uncontrollable behaviour (unusual but not necessarily directed violence), 40% for bizarre and extremely combative behaviour (with directed violence), and 5% for bizarre and uncontrollable behaviour with nudism. (Gary J Ordog, Jonathan Wasserberger, Theodore Schlater and Subramaniam Balasubramanium, Electronic Gun (Taser) Injuries in Annals of Emergency Medicine, January 1987) The study claimed that three victims died of cardiac arrest due to phencyclidine (angel dust) toxity. Other taser deaths have also been analysed, pointing to possible inherent safety hazards. A manufacturer also warned that taser darts are dangerous to eyes, and recommended shooting them in the back, a practice which some police professionals have warned could lead to onlookers concluding erroneously that the police were engaged in the gratuitous use of force. (Law and Order, Reviewing Taser Useage, July 1992 )

Stun belts
The stun belt is said to be much more powerful than a stun gun. One of the US manufacturers claims in its literature that the stun belts are medically safe but a company spokesperson has admitted that no strictly independent medical tests have been carried out on the belt. Instead the company cites a doctor in Nebraska who has stated that he tested the companys stun gun devices on anaesthetized pigs and that these are therefore safe to use on people "under circumstances of proper usage". The reference to usage is not spelled out and it appears to refer only to single applications.

Reports indicate that humans who have voluntarily subjected themselves to the shock of a stun belt are able to prepare themselves psychologically and allowed to fall onto gym mats or lawn. This is very different from a situation where a prisoner has to wear the belt for many hours under constant fear that it may be activated, who may fall onto sharp surfaces, and who may have been doing strenuous exercise and sweating in the sun, thus increasing the conductivity of the skin. A company spokesperson is reported to acknowledge that "at trials, people notice that the defendant will be watching whoever has the monitor [i.e. the remote control]". (Ibid)

The US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) says that its Health Programs Branch has reviewed the [stun] belt and concluded the technology is medically safe for use on the great majority of the BOPs inmate population. ( Letter of reply from Peter Carlson, Assistant Director, US Department of Prisons, to Physicians for Human Rights, Boston, Massachusetts, 4 April 1996 in response to a letter of concern from Physicians for Human Rights) No details have been disclosed of the testing or how these may be construed to be independent tests. The BOP and the company manual warn that its stun belts (known as REACT belts) should not be used on pregnant women, persons with heart diseases, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or who are epileptic. The BOP says it does not carry out medical examinations of all prisoners before deciding who should wear a stun belt, but only carries out examinations after a prisoner has been incapacitated:

Medical staff review an inmates medical file and other available documentation at the institution to verify whether any of the above five medical conditions exist that would preclude use of the REACT belt on that inmate. In the event activation of the REACT belt is necessary on an inmate approved for its use, medical staff examine the inmate as soon as possible following activation. (Ibid)

The manufacturers recent literature states that, after a warning noise, the belt inflicts eight-second shocks using 50,000 volts through the prisoner's left kidney which causes instant incapacitation leaving welts. "The active stun capability corresponds to the length of time the activator switch is depressed", according to the company manual. The company has marketed them "for total psychological supremacy...of potentially troublesome prisoners". Warnings are also given by the company that stun belts should not be used to "unlawfully threaten, coerce, harass, taunt, belittle or abuse any person."

It is reported that every prisoner required to wear the stun belt is "asked" to sign a form entitled "Inmate Notification of Custody Control Belt Use" by the BOP. This form is virtually the same as that promoted by the company for all law enforcement agencies. Both forms advise prisoners that activation of the stun belt causes "immobilization causing you to fall to the ground; possibility of self-defecation; possibility of self-urination" and state that activation could occur "under the following actions on your behalf" including "any outburst or quick movement", "any tampering with the belt", "failure to comply with a verbal command for movement of your person" and "any loss of visual contact by the officer in charge". In 1996, one company spokesperson said that stun belts had been accidentally activated by law enforcement officers nine times since they were introduced in 1991, the same number of times they were deliberately activated.

The stun belt has been promoted in the USA as an alternative to using shackles or leg-irons when transporting potentially violent prisoners, and to ease personnel costs when such prisoners appear in court. However, the "high security transport belt" is designed to be used with "wrist cuffs in place, additional use of handcuffs and extended chain to leg shackles" according to the company's manual. Section 33 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners includes the requirement that "Instruments of restraint, such as handcuffs, chains, irons and strait-jackets, shall never be applied as a punishment. Furthermore, chains and irons shall not be used as restraints."

Tear gas stun weapons
More recently, a few companies in China, Taiwan and the USA have announced they wish to sell stun batons which can also dispense tear gas or pepper gas. The latter causes uncontrollable sneezing, violent tearing and burning pain on the skin for about 5 minutes according to the Taiwanese manufacturer, but little is known of the chemical composition of the sprays. Many countries prohibit the use of pepper gas due to fears of its health hazards, and it is argued that other types of tear gas (CS and CN in particular) can cause serious contamination problems for users and bystanders, as well as serious eye damage. ( Deadly Force: What We Know - a Practitioners Desk Reference on Police-Involved Shootings, William A Geller and Michael S Scott, Police Executive Research Forum, Washington DC, 1992, pages 376-382. However, this summary of evidence may be superseded by more recent reports, for example a US government report in 1994 which warned that pepper spray was not only potentially lethal, but also capable of causing future cancers and birth defects, and required more safety studies before being considered for public use.) However, it is known that the sparks from electro-shock weapons can ignite inflamable substances such as alcohol propellant used in tear gas and pepper sprays.

In August 1990, New York Police Department officers reportedly sprayed an emotionally disturbed boy with a crowd control chemical. The boy, said to be armed with a hammer and two knives, had locked himself in his bathroom. When he did not respond to a verbal command, the police allegedly shot him with a taser gun, and the electric spark from the taser somehow started a fire. The boy was said to have suffered first and second degree burns. (Cincinnati Police Division Chemical Aerosol Report, 1992, and Law Enforcement News, 31 October 1990)

The use in law enforcement of other new types of electro-shock stun weapon pose additional threats to human rights. Doubts remain about the advisability for law enforcement of other new products such as a particular type of stun gun whose front electrodes comprise sharp spikes to penetrate a victims skin, coiled razor wire with an electro-shock capacity designed to surround demonstrators, and lethal electric fences used in new US prisons.

However, debates over the intrinsic design of such electro-shock weapons should not obscure the need for governments to look closely at the most likely actual use. Real law enforcement situations in different countries with differing law enforcement records rather than experiments in controlled laboratory conditions should ultimately be the deciding factor in whether governments prohibit the spread of electro-shock weapons.

The legal position

Torture is absolutely prohibited under international law. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that No one shall be subject to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." This is reiterated in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR) and elaborated in other instruments such as the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The term cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment should be interpreted so as to extend the widest possible protection against abuses, whether physical or mental... (Principle 6, United Nations Body of Principles for the Protection of Any Person under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adopted by the UN General Assembly.)

Every state has an obligation to prevent and eradicate torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world, and must take effective measures to this end within their jurisdiction. Although the use by law enforcement officials of electro-shock weapons which inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering constitutes torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in many circumstances, there has been little attempt by governments to strictly regulate the use and transfer of electro-shock weapons or to stop the spread of such weapons and other security equipment to those countries whose law enforcers practise torture and severe ill-treatment. Member states of the United Nations reaffirmed in the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action at the 1993 UN World Conference on Human Rights that: one of the most atrocious violations against human dignity is the act of torture, the result of which destroys the dignity and impairs the capability of victims to continue their lives and their activities [paragraph IIB(5)55, and the Conference]...urges all States to put an end to the practice of torture and eradicate this evil for ever through the full implementation of the...relevant conventions and, where necessary, strengthening existing mechanisms...[and] ...efforts to eradicate torture should, first and foremost, be concentrated on prevention.

National laws controlling the use and transfer of such weapons appear to vary widely. In Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland and the UK, electro-shock weapons other than cattle prods are reportedly treated as prohibited weapons, although the ban is not always fully comprehensive. The prohibitions in Canada and the UK were introduced to prevent criminal use of stun weapons. UK companies have since admitted trying to circumvent the UK law by trading in electro-shock weapons which they do not bring into UK territorial jurisdiction and some company spokespersons have admitted arranging sales of electro-shock weapons to China, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and Zaire. The UK government revealed in August 1995 that, despite the ban inside the UK, it had issued a "transhipment licence" for electro-shock batons during 1993 but stated that no further details can be released about this matter (concerning the origin, destiny and nature of the consignment). In 1995-6, three Belgian companies a Dutch company and a Spanish company advertised the sale of stun weapons without prosecution. Two Luxembourg companies, while refusing to supply such equipment themselves, were willing in 1996 to provide inquirers with contacts in Belgium and Germany to facilitate supplies for foreign buyers.

On the other hand, there are few or no restrictions on the use or sale of such weapons in China, Israel, Russia, South Africa, the USA and Taiwan. In the USA, the use of stun guns was reported in 1995 to be legal in most states, but declared illegal in Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington DC, as well as in some cities whose ordinances can override state rulings. In Maryland, for example, where it was apparently legal to own and operate stun guns, the Baltimore city authorities banned them. Some US police forces such as Kansas City police force recommended against the use of stun guns on both safety and effectiveness grounds, and so have prisons departments such as in Texas. Unlike stun guns, Tasers are subject to regulation by the Gun Control Act of 1968 because they use gunpowder as a propellant to fire the darts. In the case of stun belts, one manufacturer in Cleveland stated that "as long as it is not used for officer gratification or punishment, liability is non-existent."

Regarding international transfers, governments of the main supply countries do not publish export data on electro-shock weapons. The US Department of Commerce, which issues licences to US traders for the export of electro-shock weapons, has refused to disclose the exact numbers of such weapons exported from the USA or the countries of destination even though the Export Administration Act allows the release of such information if "it is determined by the Secretary [of Commerce] to be in the national interest."

An illustration of the lack of government transparency of the trade in stun weapons is given by US Export Administration Regulations where such weapons were not mentioned in 1983 but by 1995 were included in a broader commodity licencing category (OA84C) as follows: "Shotguns, barrel length 18 inches or over; buckshot shotgun shells; and arms, discharge type (for example stunguns, shock batons, electric cattle prods, immobilization guns and projectiles, etc) except equipment used exclusively to treat and tranquillize animals, and except arms designed solely for signal, flare or saluting use; and parts, n.e.s., including optical sighting devices for firearms." The US Commerce Secretary has so far refused to disclose specific details of export and re-export of electro-shock weapons, but revealed in 1995 that, in terms of the broad licencing category quoted above, his Department issued 2,083 licences to 106 countries valued at US$117.3 million during 1991 and 1993. Whether actual deliveries of stun weapons took place in each case is not known, but the approved receiving countries included Algeria, Bulgaria, China, Lebanon, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Uruguay - all countries where torture using electro-shock weapons has been reported - as well as 14 other countries (see Appendix 1) where electric shock torture has been used by law enforcement officers. A US Commerce Department official revealed in August 1995 that an export licence had been issued for taser guns to Saudi Arabia despite the record of that country. US companies are keen to seek foreign sales - one stun belt manufacturer, while insisting that only "authorized" and trained law enforcement officers should use a stun belt on prisoners, and offering up to six hours training to customers in the USA, said it was nevertheless willing to sell the belts to China or Saudi Arabia.

Another US export commodity category (OA82C) has since 1983 included "specially designed implements for torture" with "saps, thumbcuffs, thumbscrews, leg irons, shackles, handcuffs,...straight jackets, police helmets and shields, parts and accessories". Commerce Department export licence records for 1994 under this category show, for instance, that "police helmets, handcuffs, shields used for torture" were approved for Saudi Arabia, Russia and many other countries. "Shields used for torture" may conceivably include electro-shock riot shields. In November 1995, the US Commerce Secretary notified Congress that, due to letters and inquiries from the public, he was separating "specially designed implements of torture" to a new export commodity control category with "a presumption of denial for a licence to export." However, no commitment was made to disclose data on exports of electro-shock weapon exports, and, moreover, under this particular category, the US government did not require US suppliers to obtain valid export licences for sales to Greece and Turkey because they are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, even though there was evidence of electric shock torture and ill-treatment being carried out at the time using such weapons.

The seriousness of this omission can be shown by citing the case of Mediha Curabaz, a nurse aged 25, who was detained in the street in Adana, Turkey, on 15 August 1991 by the police and taken to the Political Branch of Adana Police Headquarters. See Turkey: Alleged rape and torture in Adana Police Headquarters, (AI Index: EUR 44/06/92) 13 January 1992 She was severely tortured during interrogation. She recounted:

...they were making baseless accusations about people I work with and about people from the Adana Nurses Association on whose committee I serve. They asked me to support their allegations, and said that if I agreed to do so, they would whisper in the prosecutors ear so that I would be released. When I refused, they beat me furiously all over, took me to the room used for hanging people up by the arms or legs and gave me electric shocks through my fingers, sexual organs and nipples, saying degrading things about my body. They said,  "you will certainly do what we say if we give you the electric truncheon." They thrust the electric truncheon violently into my sexual organs and I felt a pain as if I was being drilled there with an electric drill. They immediately lay me down on some ice. I started to bleed at this stage and fainted...before I had come fully round, they forced me to sign various papers.

Failure by governments to control the surreptitious transfer and use by police of electro-shock weapons is illustrated by the following case. In March 1993, a delegation of the ECPT visited Greece and interviewed a large number of people who alleged that they had been ill-treated while in police custody. The delegation heard several recent allegations of falaka and the administration of electric shocks; treatment which was said to have been inflicted at the Athens and Thessaloniki Police Headquarters. Delegates further found that the most recent allegations of electric shock torture referred to the use of a hand-held device. They met several detainees who alleged that they had recently received electric shocks via such a device and found that their descriptions of the device were concordant. Furthermore, upon examination by medical members of the delegation, some of the detainees were found to bear marks consistent with their allegations. A hand-held device for delivering electric shocks was subsequently discovered in the personal locker of a police officer attached to the Thessaloniki Police Headquarters. According to a reply from the Greek Government, the police officer involved stated that he had received the baton after meeting with a German police officer. The Greek Government is reported to have since outlawed the use of such weapons by law enforcement agencies.

In other European countries, the regulatory situation is more mixed. The growing market for stun guns amongst private citizens in the USA and Taiwan is replicated in France and Germany. In the latter two countries, stun guns appear not to be regularly used by law enforcement agencies but can be used by certain officers in special circumstances and can be exported. The President of a French company manufacturing stun guns and batons, claimed sales to many North African and Middle East countries. When asked about sales to Belgium, Italy and Spain, he told an international security magazine that: "We sell to some importers in those countries, but they don't really know whether they're allowed to sell it or not...Because of the uncertainty, they keep a low profile and don't advertise." (Asian Sources Security Products, November 1995, Volume 1 Issue 3) Concern at French government involvement in the export of electro-shock weapons was heightened in 1996 when the head of the anti-riot police in Nicaragua announced that his unit of 400 officers received a donation of stun shields and batons from the French government.

Recommendations to governments

In order to prevent the use of any security or police equipment, including electro-shock equipment, in the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners or detainees, Amnesty International is calling on all relevant governments and intergovernmental organizations to review legal and other practical measures in order to (See also Amnesty Internationals 12-Point Program for the Prevention of Torture, Appendix 3:)

immediately prohibit the transfer of all electro-shock stun weapons to any country where such weapons are likely to contribute to unlawful killings, or to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, for example by refusing any export licence where it is proposed that electro-shock weapons be transferred to a country where persistent torture or instances of electric shock torture and ill-treatment have been reported.

publicly disclose in advance any transfer of security or police equipment, especially electro-shock weapons, from one country to another so that the human rights situation in the intended receiving country can be taken into consideration before any such transfers are allowed to proceed;

establish a rigorous, independent and impartial public inquiry into the use of stun belts, guns and shields, and all other types and variants of electro-shock weapons, to assess their medical and other effects in terms of international human rights standards regulating the treatment of prisoners and use of force; the inquiry should examine all known cases of deaths or injury resulting from the use of such instruments, and the results of the inquiry should be published without delay;

immediately suspend the use of stun belts and other electro-shock weapons for law enforcement unless and until independent medical evidence can clearly demonstrate that the likely practical use of any such weapons will not contribute to unlawful killings, or to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

conduct a thorough investigation into whether previous exports of electro-shock stun weapons from supplier countries have been used for electro-shock torture and ill-treatment;

monitor and regulate all exhibitions promoting the sale of security equipment and technology in order to ensure that any proposed transfer of electro-shock stun weapons will not contribute to unlawful killings, or to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Recommendations to companies

Governments are ultimately responsible for compliance with internationally-recognised human rights standards, and to this end have a particular responsibility to regulate companies operating within their jurisdiction. However, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also requires that all corporate bodies and private citizens accept responsibility for helping to promote and protect fundamental human rights. Amnesty International will continue to approach companies which are known to manufacture or trade in electric shock equipment and will appeal to them:

to support the above recommendations to relevant governments and to inter-governmental organizations;

not to transfer electro-shock weapons to those countries with a persistent record of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

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