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Name
muslimah form the USA
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Profession
Question
Now, we have seen photos of rape incidences within Iraq and I am quiet sure this is happening or happened also in Palestine and maybe elsewhere, a RAPED UNMARRIED girl is she now able to marry and have a healthy sexual life afterwards.
Answer
Victims of rape in any country need special program of therapy which can be extended over months if not years. In and Arab and a Muslim culture, this can take a lot of effort on the part of the therapist especially in an environment where is a double stigma; one is on the question of rape and the other of mental illness. In many cases, women who have been victims of rape have committed suicide.
Name
hassana
- Nigeria
Profession
Question
Now could you just describe in detail, how would the Iraqi prisoners feel at seeing photos of abuse, torture and humiliation in the media?
What are the mental and psychological consequences of the online broadcasting of the abuse incidence on the abused?
Answer
It is most humiliating for the Arab man to have his naked body exposed to strangers, let alone to have it projected in this manner. It has to do with Arab's definition of honor. To be in a position where you are under the control of others is another form of humiliation, which would make any human being feel angry and oppressed. Take these two elements into consideration and the fact that the Americans are seen by most Arabs and Muslims as enemies in Iraq then you have a situation where the individual will feel such indignity which would result in serious psychological and mental consequences.
Name
Curious
- Bahrain
Profession
Question
Out of your experience in the field of Mental Health and dealing with Post Traumatic Disorder, is what we saw in Abu Ghraib happening also in Palestine, or is it worse, better or different within Palestine?
Answer
In the last 15 years alone, Israel has incarcerated over 100,000 Palestinians, 70% of them were tortured. Israel has used various psychological and physical methods of torture, including beating, hooding, shaking, extreme cold or heat, throttling, sleep and food deprivation among other methods. Forty percent of those released have shown signs and symptoms of serious family problems, depression, anxiety and some cases of paranoia.
It needs a long term program of rehabilitation which can be successful only with the help of the community and the family and can take a long time. There are serious consequences of torture where the tortured victim would possibly project his anger against other members of the family, particulary women and children, and then you have a serious cycle of violence.
Name
----------
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Profession
Question
Dr., you are a human rights activist and a psychiatrist at the same time and therefore you are the best one to understand what does it mean to be humiliated and tortured in a brutal way. What can be done to help Prisoners of War everywhere especially those in Palestine and Iraq?
Answer
Peoples ability to fight and resist the occupation of their country is the most important therapeutic process. The political resolution of conflict should be based on the protection of the individual and the national sense of dignity, otherwise it will not lead to a healthy future. The aggressor party (Israel and America) should acknowledge its guilt and responsibility and offer an apology to the victims.
People's rights as defined by the international legal bodies (including the UN), should be protected and guaranteed. In all of this, people who are fighting or resisting the occupation need a visionary and courageous leadership that can show people hope and the future.
Name
No
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Profession
Question
Is the online broadcasting of the slaughtering of an American civilian doing any good for the abused prisoners?
Answer
It can perhaps help people to feel a short-lived feeling of revenge, but very quickly it will evaporate like joy. In many cases, it will lead to further demeaning of the nature of humanity and it will lower the morale of everyone including the victims. I believe that people who have a moral cause should not be allowing mobs or even themselves to be lowered to the level of beasts even if that beast is the enemy.
Name
David - USA
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Profession
Question
Most of us around the world look on and see what is going on and feel helpless. What is the most constructive thing that we can do to help?
Answer
In the United States, you have a serious political tragedy manifested by the elections of an Administration that is running the world amok. The problem is that American citizens elect their representatives according to their domestic needs like taxes and road pavements, not realizing that those elected will rule the world.
The American people should become aware of the devastating impact of such an Administration on American interests everywhere. You must be aware that there is a high percentage of people everywhere who are dissillusioned with America resulting in an increase in anti-Americanism sentiment!
Name
Dr. N. U.K
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Profession
Question
What can you say is the most debilitating aspect of experiencing trauma everyday for over half a century? What does this do to a people and what kind of people can inflict this kind of persistent and ugly abuse?
Answer
From the experience in Palestine, most of the energy of the people has been directed against the outside enemy. People have been thrown throughout their life between extreme emotions of defiance, helplessness, revenge, defeat and victory. The daily life is that of acute alarm in a setting of chronic stress with the result of 33% of the population in Gaza suffer from eight symptoms or more of post-traumatic stress disorder that need intervention. A further 40% have less than eight symptoms. Only 2.5% of the population have no symptoms at all.
Name
Simran Sekhon
- India
Profession
Training
Question
Where do you think the new agreement that the US has come up with going to lead to in regards to the relationship between the West and the Arab world and its consequences on the rest of the world?
Answer
If you mean the initiative of the Great Middle East, this is going nowhere as people feel that the Americans are trying to impose on them by force a certain way of life. The ideal of democracy and human rights have received serious blows to the head and body by the American Administration's behavior in Iraq.
In the meantime, more and more people who live in the Arab world under dictatorial oppressive regimes are realizing that they need to open the doors of democracy not according to the American custom but because of the needs of development and prosperity in the Arab world.
Name
Dina
- Malaysia
Profession
Question
Could you go into more details as to what kind of support a prisoner who has been psychologically abused will need and what kind of abuse a person who have been tortured on a daily basis in subtle ways will need for their support?
Answer
Family support and before understanding a secure and warm environment is fundamental.
A close relation can help the victim if that is inspired by love and respect. In many cases, however, there is a need for professional help in the form of individual or group therapy, which in essence aims at dealing with the consequences of trauma and the impact of the negative experience on the individual's psyche and mental health.
There are different methods of therapy, but I personally prefer the cognitive approach, which basically means that the therapist would facilitate a process of understanding, processing and integration of experiences with the aim of personality growth and improvement in social functioning after dealing with the ill effects of torture.
Name
Barry
- United Kingdom
Profession
Student
Question
On social benefits - I am a foreign student studying in the UK. In the UK there is a scheme called Tax Credits for which one get get a considerable sum of money from the British Government. For some foreign students their passport is stamped with the wording "No recourse to public funds". My question is, if an applicant is successful in his application, despite knowing that he is not entitled to it, what would be your view on the money received. Are there any fatwa related to this. Thank you.
Answer
This session is concerned with the trauma, psychologically abuse and torture.
Please submit your question to 'Live Fatwa'.
Name
Jonas..
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Profession
Question
Prof. Sarraj - As-salamu `alaykum.
How do you evaluate the effects of such treatment on the Iraqi prisoner? & How can we requalify those men?
Answer
The immediate effects of torture would in many cases be depression, fear, and possibly paranoia. In some cases, a state of psychotic reaction can occur. In a few number of people, psychosis can become chronic. The most important form of help to these people when they are still in prison is to expose the atrocities and the inhuman treatment.
It is important for the victims to feel that they are not forgotten and that there are people who care about them. It is of course vital that these practices should stop immediately. When the victims are released they should go into a process of rehabilitation through individual, family and group therapy.
Name
Malik - U.S
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Profession
Question
You once said in an interview that the settlements in Palestine are like the best beaches in Florida, right next to the refugee camps. What other situations do Palestinians have to face like this on a daily basis?
Answer
Killing, destruction of homes, imprisonment, torture, daily practices of humiliation including beating and inhuman almost racist attitudes of the Israeli occupation forces are common practices.
During the last three years, F-16s, Apaches, drones, bulldozers, bullets, rockets and bombs have become parts of the daily experiences of Palestinians. Israelis have imposed severe restrictions on movement of Palestinians in and out of their villages and towns. Virtually no Palestinian is allowed to use the Israeli airports for traveling. In the last three years, almost no Palestinian from Gaza was allowed to visit the West Bank and vice versa.
According to our research, destruction of homes have the most serious psychological effects on children, but the whole population have been subjected to a high state of alarm due to the Israeli continuous rocket launching.
Poverty due to the systematic destruction of the Palestinian economy and the infrastructure has led to serious physical and psychological consequences. Some Palestinians are forces to work on Israeli farms and in Israeli factories. It is very humiliating to work for the enemy!
Name
Mark..
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Profession
Question
Is there any global activities helping those Iraqis two transcend their deep problems?
Answer
The outrage about the American brutal treatment of Iraqi prisoners is now at play with important consequences everywhere in the world. I hope that the world and particularly the American people would become more aware of the danger in the White House to world peace and that this regime will be toppled.
If that happens, it will be the best thing for people of the world, not only for the Iraqis. For the Palestinians in particular, the removal of George W. Bush and his neo-conservatives will deprive Sharon of the only source of outside help which allowed him to destroy so much of life in Palestine.
Name
samira
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Profession
Question
What is the social impact of those tortured or abused within the period of imprisonment. That is what would it be like socially, on the family, spouse, children and so on?
Answer
During a period of imprisonment, children and spouse are experiencing feelings of loss, which would result in grief. The father figure is very important for the normal psychological growing process and when the child is deprived of the close relations with the father, it can lead to a strange feeling of abandonment with far-reaching consequences on future relationships. In some cases the child looks for a replacement of the father, usually in the form of a close relative or a community hero. In the majority of cases in Palestine, the attachment with the father was kept strong due to the political awareness of mothers and their warm communicative attitude. After release from prison, there are many social and family problems which we mentioned before.
Name
helpless and pessemistic
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Profession
Question
Don't you think that there is so much in common between the Palestinian case and the Iraqi situation? As a human right activist, what do you think can be done on the internet to help the people there?
Answer
Networking, raising awareness, advocacy of human rights and alertness are important ingredients for any incited activity. Demonstrating in public, communicating opinions in the media and talking and pressuring politicians in America and other countries are important.
For example, if thousands of people would send messages to their friends in America who in their turn will send messages to the White House and Congress, they will have a direct impact on policy-making.
If many people will join together through the internet as it happened before the Iraqi war, then they attend demonstrations throughout the capitals of the world, they will have a huge impact on policy-makers and the level of public awareness.
We have to remember that the axis of evil namely Bush, Sharon and dictators everywhere are fighting for power and our struggle against them is long and we have to be determined and patient.
Name
Gwen
- Canada
Profession
Psychoanlyst
Question
First of all let me state emphatically that I am sickened to the depth of my heart and soul by the utter insanity of what is taking place all over the Middle East. I have tears in my eyes as I write and I am mortified to think that we have learned nothing at all from history.
Whatever one's faith, whatever one's belief system is, when did two wrongs ever make a right? How much more pain and suffering and self-loathing are we to endure before one lone voice in this wilderness of hatred and revenge and self-destruction steps forth to show us all our own humanity and sow seeds of compassion, tolerance, acceptance, and courage and yes, even forgiveness?
Pride does indeed go before the fall. When one is standing in a hole one ought to stop digging, would you agree?
I have travelled the world and everywhere I have encountered beauty, love, good will and generosity of spirit in places where there was one would least expect it and these qualities knew neither race, nor creed, nor colour, nor education, nor wealth. I believe that it had everything to do with the fact that I demand the best of people and expect nothing less and so received nothing less.
Hatred breeds hatred. Kindness and generosity breeds kindness and generosity. "Forget" and "Forgive" both contain the essence of receiving for one cannot possibly be receptive to receiving until one is willing and able to relinquish one's pride.
We are seeing at work the adage that "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." How is this working for people everywhere hell-bent on revenge? It is a vicious circle that never ends.
It is such a small world we live in, is this how we want to be remembered?
Is this the kind of world we want to leave our inheritors?
God help us all!
Answer
I salute you for your wise and courageous words, and I can't agree more with everything you said. In order to be working towards these ideas, we have some practical yardsticks which we can use in our daily life, whether at home or across nations. These yardsticks are the respect for human rights in all aspects, allow people to grow in a healthy democratic warm environment and actively engage against the evil behavior which we have to admit is in our midst.
Name
samira
-
Profession
Question
What do you think can be the social impact of those tortured or abused within the period of imprisonment. Social, i mean here , the impact upon family , spouse , kids and so on.
Answer
From my experience as a psychiatrist in Palestine, I can't find anything worse than being submitted to inhuman treatment by an aggressive occupying force. Human dignity is one and undivided. Killing any human being is like killing all humanity.
Torture of human beings is a symptom of evil pathology of individuals, system and racism. People of conscious and from all wakes of religion or faith should come together to rise above evil, revenge, and hold together the torch of hope and humanity. Let life wins over the camp of death. Life, as Ghandi said, will always win.
