On Ghost Houses, again...

A very interesting article from a young Sudanese-American, Anab, who eloquently connected the joyful festival of Halloween Ghosts to the real monstrous one in Sudan.

"To survivors of torture in Sudan, ghost houses are places where they were kept in detention, in isolation and under people who lack any ties to humanity. Some of these places are not yet identified and some of their locations continue to be unknown. They continue to be used for the same sole purpose, though, as a tool for intimidation and curbing political opposition and dissent among people. Namely, they are used for interrogating and torturing those who seemingly threaten the power of government, or exhibit any form of opposition to its ideology. Captives suffer the pain and agony of various forms of torture in these obscure detention cells kept under the most inhumane circumstances.

The so-called ghost houses earned their notoriety because their walls—which continue to be occupied by new victims—are haunted by the anguished cries of detainees, who suffered the hostilities by their perpetrators who paid no regard to human life, rights or dignity. As for the forms of torture used against the detainees, they are numerous, and equally horrifying. For example, some survivors have stated that they have suffered a wide range of torture forms, from cigarette burns to their skin, up to extreme forms of physical violations.

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