Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Crime, World News
Dan Seddon
When it comes to the grim art of human torture, there's nothing more simple and effective than what the Iranians did in the early Noughties.
Preferring to punish on a psychological level as opposed to the excruciating systems of suffering designed by Greeks (the brazen bull), Western Europeans (the rack), and Persians (scaphism), this cruel torture method kept prisoners in solitary confinement that could last for months, or even years, under uniquely terrifying conditions.
This was conducted by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in response to an attempt at political reform.
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But what does this white torture entail?
Not only are captives placed in starkly white-coloured cells, their clothes and food (unseasoned rice served on white disposable plates) are also devoid of any colour.
To achieve this horrific colourless void effect, neon tubes are positioned above the cell occupant in such a way that shadows are not created, while all of the surfaces are smooth.
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Sound is absent too, as guards stand in silence with padded shoes on, surrounded by soundproofed walls, floors and ceilings.
In terms of psychological results on the prisoner, which were often journalists, they can become utterly depersonalised and experience either hallucinations or psychosis.
The aim is for them to sign confessions and detail their political affiliations.
Arguably the most famous detainee during this period of Iranian white torture is ex-medical student Amir Fakhravar, who was held in a 'covert' detention centre at Evin Prison.
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He told CNN back in 2008: "We didn't see any colour, all of the cell was white, the floor was white, our clothes were white and also the light, 24 hours, was white.
"Our food, also, was white rice. We couldn't see any colour and we couldn't hear any voices.
"I was there for eight months and after those months I couldn't remember my father and my mother's face. When they released me from that prison I was not a normal person."
An Amnesty International report on Fakhravar's detention reads: "If he needed to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards, who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. He was forbidden to speak to anyone."
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Fakhravar was originally arrested aged just 17 after criticising the country's regime, but couldn't comprehend why his plea for reform had been met with such evil.
"That was the question for us. I asked my interrogator: 'What do you want from us?' And after several times experiencing this I realised they want to inject fear into Iranian society, all of Iranian society," he added.
"They are trying to brainwash all the children in Iran."
There have since been white torture cases reported across both America and Venezuela.