Shamal Salim’s Image Of Terror

Shamal Salim created this nightmare image drawing on the terrible memories of his torture in Iraq. The images flooded out during his treatment at the Danish Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT). At the end of his treatment he gave his physiotherapist a model of the prison in which he had been incarcerated and which he knew so alarmingly well.

In a recent film focusing on rehabilitation (Returning to Life, 1999, RCT/Amnesty International) he spoke movingly of how witnessing the birth of his baby daughter had triggered flashbacks of his torture.

The RCT played a key role in setting up the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), a body that promotes globally the treatment and rehabilitation of torture survivors and measures to prevent torture.

IRCT
PO Box 2107
DK-1014 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tel: +45 33 76 06 00
Fax: +45 33 76 05 00
E-mail: irct@irct.org
Web: www.irct.org which has an excellent listing of rehabilitation centres and extensive links on torture.