A typical component in the machinery of
oppression by fascist regimes is torture.
The Portuguese prisons of Mozambique
are no exception. There, political prisoners are continually subjected to bru
tality by the colonialists — as Agostinho
Thawe explains in this statement to the
UN Commission on Human Rights.
I was a teacher in the Anglican Mission of
Messumba (Niassa) when I was arrested
on the 11th September, 1964. Officially
freed on the 8th January, 1971, I stayed
in prison until the 26th February, 1971;
that is for nearly 7 years, and 1 was never
on trial.
From September to October, 1964, I was
kept in the prison at Vila Cabral. On
the I Oth October, I was sent to the
penitentiary of Lourenco Marques where
I stayed till the month of March, 1965.
From March to July, 1965, 1 was kept in
the Machava Prison. In July I was transferred to the Pinto Teixeira working
camps in Mabalane. In 1968 I was sent
back to Machava and sent back again to
Pinto Teixeira in 1969 where I stayed until the 8th January, 1971. I was then
brought back to Lourenco Marques where
1 was finally freed in February, 1971.
THE INTERROGATIONS
It is the most dangerous and critical
time for the prisoners. It is during this
phase that many prisoners lose their lives.
While being questioned the prisoner is
submitted to tortures. The principle
tortures consist of:
a. being «ironed» with a hot clothes
iron on the back;
b. being suspended from the ceiling by
the hands;
c. being kept on bended knees on the
sand for days;
d. being  submitted   to  electric   shocks;
e. being forced to swallow pills or receive injections that disturb the nervous system;
f. being kept in a frozen room;
g. being whipped, being beaten with a
«palmatoria» or with a baton (casse-
tete);
h. being beaten with a perforated «palma-
toria»;
i.   being tied and beaten by six policemen.
When  the prisoner faints, he is revived
with water and the torture starts again.
18
Inside
Caetano's
prisons
Amongst the prisoners many die because
of these tortures and others, in the war
zones, are killed by the soldiers. One of
my friends Estevao Njilamo, died in
Machava as a consequence of the blows
he received while being interrogated.
Many prisoners bear scars and others
become mad or handicapped.
During the period between 1965 and
1968 the army used to come and take
away prisoners who had finished the
investigations phase and use them as
mine detectors in front of their military
convoys. The prisoners' eyes were closed
with adhesive tape or with handkerchiefs
and they were tied and kept at the end of
a rope about 10 metres long. The vehicles
followed them. Now they don't come
anymore to take people away from the
prisons. For detecting mines now, they
use people they capture in the war zones.
But  even  after  the  questioning,  every
thing, the forced labour, the medical
assistance, the food, the sleeping quarters,
the water, everything is used to punish
us.
FOOD
At Mabalane the food was o( a very bad
quality. It was mostly rice husks or maize
of the quality normally given to chickens.
In Machava it was even worse. Several
times 1 saw people fainting from hunger
sometimes even dying. The quantity of
food sufficient for one person was given
to four. The situation got even worse
after 1966. We were given half a cup of
rice, three quarters of a cup of beans per
day. When we received flakes we received a whole cup but no sugar. We
never had meat, only small bones ^meticulously scraped» as we said in the letter
that we - 1 and six others - sent to
the inspector of the Section of Prisons
from PIDE in Machava.
The sauce was like water, no oil, no
onions, no tomato, sometimes even without salt. Diarrhoea was frequent due to
bad food.
SLEEPING BARRACKS
At Mabalane we slept on the ground.
From 1967 onwards we were given blankets every two years.
It was much worse at Machava where, at
the moment of my departure there were
4,700 prisoners sharing the three wards
reserved for the political prisoners.
The   people   were   stacked   like   tinned
sardines, pressed against one another, the
feet of one on the head of the other.
In these conditions epidemics were frequent and spread easily among the prisoners. This was aggravated by the fact
that   the   authorities   did everything to
make the hygienic conditions worse.
We could see that the sleeping barracks
were used as a means to put an end to
the prisoners' lives.
HYGIENE
At Mabalane, like in Machava, there were
taps and showers. Nevertheless, during the
hot season (the rainy season) the authorities used to cut the water and only
turn it on every two days, while in the
cold season (dry season) there was water
every day but only from 3 to 5 o'clock
in the morning. All this shows that bathing was also a method of punishment.
Soap was very seldom given and when
A