“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” By Lazar Stevlic

     Human Rights came about in late 1948. They were created to give people rights that can never be taken away from you because you are a human. One of those human rights was “No Torture.” It states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” but some people have this right violated. People in Syria, and Guantanamo Bay are being tortured everyday. Which makes it feel to those people that they have no human rights. 141 countries still use torture according to the U.N. It is also happening a lot right now due to wars that are happening right now. There is torture happening even on our own soil in America. But people don’t care. The Red Cross made a poll about torture. According to the poll 46% of Americans think that torture is acceptable. But it really isn’t acceptable. As a human you have rights that you get for being human. One of those rights is the right to not be tortured. But many countries and Americans don’t care.
     During the Syrian Civil War the Syrian government have been doing everything to stop the rebels. A Syrian woman by the name of Farah was arrested by the Syrian Government and tortured. For this she was interviewed by the BBC (British Broadcasting Station) because of what happened to her and they wanted to share her story. She was arrested because they thought that she was a opposition activist a.k.a a rebel but she wasn’t. The first thing she saw were men hanged up. She was put in a dark, cold room with 12 other women. She was beaten as they asked her questions. She also tortured with electrodes. She was also threatened with rape by the guards and the interrogators. They tortured her physically and mentally. They also threatened to bring her son into the detention center. Hurting her inside even more. Farah and other people in the detention center were being tortured on a daily basis. The guards didn't care who they tortured as she said that a elderly man got tortured once. She said that they electrocuted him and he died during the torture. So they picked his body up from the ground and threw him out of the room. She also has seen a man being hung from his hands and legs. They pulled the ropes and spit on him. After 36 days of cruel, and endless torture they released her from prison and she went to the UK. She holds Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible from the torture and events she witnessed in the prison. Due to the torture and things she witness she will probably be scarred of life.
      There could be life long effects on Farah’s life due to the torture. She can develop PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) due to the torture she went though and the events she witnessed in the prison. Another man who was tortured named Adeel suffers from panic attacks due to the torture. Whenever he hears footsteps approaching him or a person in uniform it triggers bad memories and he gets a panic attack. He was tortured in Guantanamo Bay by US soldiers. Adeel also feels like he is still in Guantanamo Bay and he also feels isolated due to his torture. A psychiatrist at King’s College London said that the techniques that they use in torture are “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.”
     Torture isn’t a thing that some countries want to stop like the Syria and 46% of American citizens. They use torture to get inform from Prisoners of War. Syria and some Americans don’t think that there are other ways to get information of people. Plus they should stop because it violates a human right. Human Right number 5, “No Torture” but some countries are trying to put an end to torture. Barack Obama has been trying closed Guantanamo Bay where the Americans had been torturing prisoners. He also banned the use of brutal interrogation techniques being used by American troops. Due to Obama trying to stop the use of torture in the US other countries could be soon to follow signaling the end of torture for good.