Falaka
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A Falaka was originally a Persian instrument of corporal punishment used to immobilize torture victims who would then have the soles of their feet beaten with rods. Image:Falaka.gif
Persian original
Similar to the European concept of stocks, the barefoot offender was made to lie down on their back, their feet fastened to a two-metre pole with a loop in the middle made of either leather or rope. The loop was held in place by passing its two ends through two holes made in the pole with knots at either end to prevent the cords from slipping through. The offender's feet were put through the loop and the pole was twisted, tightening the loop around the feet so as to prevent release.
This type of beating is excrutiatingly painful – the sole of the foot is one of the most sensitive parts of the human body. It was considered humiliating as well, and generally reserved for the lower classes, though a variant was also used in schoolrooms with unruly children.
Elsewhere
- The same word has been adopted in the Turkish language; the punishment itself was adopted with vigor and renwed zest in the Ottoman Empire and several of its Arabic and other successor states, sometimes with the alternative spelling falaqa. It involves beatings on the soles of the feet, secured or not, using either a stick or a whip. Upon the beating being administered, recipients were sometimes made to walk on the bruises to inflame the soles. And, in rare and diabolical instances, after receiving the beating, the wounded were made to run on wet grass or take cold showers, which would cause the skin of the feet to constrict, rupture and bleed, adding additional anguish. The method was also preferred by the Turkish as the beating itself was administered in a location that was not readily noticeable by observers. So, every day following an intense beating and adminstration of Falaka, the beaten could be seen to be in good health, save for the slight limp.
- It is still in use as a method of torture in some countries including Syria and more prominently in Turkey and was brought over from the homeland to various locales inhabited by first generation Turks.
- A modern variant using steel wire was used by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 'summary justice'.
- Falaqa was a commonly reported torture method used by the security officers of Bahrain on its citizens between 1974 and 2001. See: Torture in Bahrain.
- The same practice has also been used in US prisons ([1]).
