A REPORT ON JAPANESE ATROCITIES
Commission appointed by the authorities of Sime Road Internment Camp to record evidence from Internees who were arrested by the Japanese M.P. in consequence of a raid on Changi Camp on 10/10/43 first sat on Thursday 30/8/45 and completed the record of evidence on Sunday evening 2/9/45, having taken statements from 36 of the survivors....
Usually interrogation started quietly and would so continue as long as the inquisitors got their expected answers. If for any reason such answers were not forth-coming physical violence was immediately employed and methods were :-
(1) ... Beating with iron bars, brass rods, sticks, bamboos, wet knotted ropes, belts with buckles or revolver butts, all over the body. While these beatings were being inflicted the victim was sometimes suspended by the wrists passed over the beam. Sometimes their hands were tied behind their backs and the were forced to kneel on sharp pieces of wood or iron, and while sharp pieces of wood or metal were placed behind their knees so as to cut into the flesh as they knelt. While they so kneeling the Jap. would jump on their thighs or on the projecting ends of the bar or wood behind their knees, a Japanese would perch himself on the shoulders of the victim or the victim with hands untied would be compelled to hold heavy weights above the head. They were often forced to remain in this position without intermission from 9 to 10 hours during which period interrogation would go on remorselessly punctuated by blows. At times the victim would be tied to a table and flogged until he lost consciousness, In one case the man so flogged counted over 200 blows before losing consciousness. This treatment was in some cases carried on daily for 4 to 5 days consecutively. In on case a European who died later was interrogated with the usual beatings for 55 hours at a stretch and another European since dead underwent 144 hours of beating in all, according to the estimates of his cell mates.
(2) ... Water torture. There were 2 forms of water torture. In the first the victim was tied or held down on his back and a cloth placed over his nose and mouth. Water was then poured on the cloth. Interrogation proceeded and the victim was beated if he did not reply. As he opened his mouth to breathe or to answer questions, water went down his throat until he could not hold anymore. Sometimes he was then beaten over his distended stomach , sometimes a Jap. jumped on his stomach or sometimes pressed on it with his foot. In the 2nd, the victim was tied lengthways on a ladder face upwards with a rung of the ladder across his throat and his head below the ladder. In his position he was slid head first into a tub of water and kept there until almost drowned. After being revived interrogation continued and he would be re-immersed.
(3) ... During interrogation the inquisitor in amy cases burnt the victims with cigarette and cheeroot ends even on the most sensitive parts of the body, e.g. the arm-pits, between the toes on the scrotum and penis. Several Asiatics and petrol poured on their bellies and ignited and other Asiatics had their hands tied together and immersed in a bowl of methylated spirits which was then ignited.
(4) ... Electric torture. There were 2 forms of this. In the first and induction coil was used. On electrode being attachd to the hand and foot and the other a bare wire was applied to various parts of the body. One victim reports that he was thrown across the room by the violence of the shock. The effect has been described as one of physical and mental disintegration. The 2nd form apparently more severe was called the electric table or electric cap. There is evidence that his was used but not on any of our witnesses.
(5) ... In addition to these forms of torture the inquisitors often employed other methods such as Jiu-jittsu twisting of limbs, bending back of fingers, twisting of sharp edged wood between fingers, punching, repeated blows on the same spot and so on. These methods in many cases resulted in dislocation and permanent damage to limbs and joints. In one case the inquisitor punctuated his question by flicking off with the frayed end bamboo flesh bruised in a previous beating. This left a permanent scar 6" by 3" on the victim's thigh.
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