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thought that this was not yet enough to make me change my views and so they took me to place called Mtcnde in Mocimboa da Praia region, where they took four pregnant women and cut open their stomachs with a knife, one by one. Then they took Sura Imani and shot him with a pistol. They made me witness these things because they wanted to make me afraid and therefore to stop me making propaganda for the party. 1 was then taken from Mocimboa da Praia to Ibo Island a heavy punishment prison for people from all over Mozambique. When we arrived there we were made to walk for about twelve hours without food or water. On arrived at the prison we were made to walk through a line of policemen armed with whips and rubber tipped sticks First we were beaten by the whips, then the sticks, and then both at the same time. At that time Ibo was a new prison. For three months we were fed only on dried, uncooked cassava, two pieces in the morning and two in the afternoon. They also put water in our cells in the evening and we were obliged to sleep in water so that we do not sleep properly. About three months later, in January 1965, they changed our diet to rotten cassava and rotten fish that would otherwise have been thrown away, bought from Vila Cabral. After the cassava was cooked it was just placed on the cement floor and we were forced to eat off the floor. In January 1965 they decided to put in our cells four drums in each corner which we had to use as a W.C. When the drums were full they chose about eight people to go put their faces in the drums. 1 was the first one chosen for this along with other comrades including Chitane and Antonio Cheira. There was one section of PIDE stationed there especially to interrogate the prisoners. When you were taken for interrogation at the PIDE section there were three men armed with a whip, rubber - tipped stick, and palmatoria and you are beaten on the stomach an sides and made to confess what you knew about FRELIMO guerillas. About 160 men died of this kind of torture, and about ten were killed with pistols, including a sheikh of the Muslim religion named Fazeira Yusufi Seeing these tortures, my hatred increased and I decided to tell the Chief of PIDE that this way he might finish off the Mozambican people, but that would not stop people fighting for their independence. He said that I was talking like a madman when 1 said that the people were only fighting for their rights and ordered that I be immediately punished with 20 strockes of the palmato - ria. At this point a member of the Group enquired whether the number of people stated as having died was just a general statement or whether this was an accurate number of those who died in Ibo prison. Mr Shauri replied: Those 160 men were killed on Ibo island. I saw them be ing killed. There was an order from Administrator Cha- mbino that I should be made to witness all the tortures because I was susppected of having been politically active in Mozamhique. But on Ibo island many more than 160 died, and these are just the cases I witnessed myself. The Chairman then asked why it was that he was made to watch these things, and why he himself was not killed. The witness explained: My opinion is that the Portuguese thought that 1 was a leader of the movement, as they knew 1 had been undertaking many political activities. Moreover, many legal proceedings had been undertaken against me and it was a well known fact that I was being held prisoner. They feared to kill me lest this should cause even more unrest among the people. Indeed Administrator Rot ha from Mocimboa da Praia had once forbidden my execution for this very reason, and also that of my brother Mohamed Shauri. (My brother is still in prison). There had been no such legal proceedings against many of the other prisoners and few people knew they were there. They were just arrested, tortured and killed. The bodies of executed prisoners used to he transported in some kind of trailer pulled by a tractor. They used to put sand in the trailer and the bodies on top. Then when it arrived at the common grave the bodies would just be tipped in and the sand would fall on top, covering everything. ■» In the morning they used to open the prison and order the prisoners to go for a bathe in the sea. On the way to the sea they had covered the path with thorn branches, which we were forced to walk over. In March 1965 we were transferred by ship from Ibo to Lourenco Marqiles, to Machava Prison. Here there were small cells, some containing already 150 prisoners. They did not even have enough space to sleep and some had to sleep on top of each other. We were crowded into the same cells with them. Even when we complained, they refused to change this. In January 1966 we were transferred to Mabalane. Limpopo, where we were put on forced labour opening up new land, cultivating and planting cotton, rice, millet and maize. The terrain was full of big trees and each prisoner had to cut down one big tree. If he had to rest he was beaten and forced back to work. We worked from six in the morning until six in the evening under thc supervision of a Portuguese called Ribeiro.» <(In 1967 a man named Ousman came to visit the camp of Mabalane. It was said that he was from the United Nations and was checking on our living conditions. He saw that we were dressed in sacks because the one pair of shorts and shirt given to us on arrival were already torn, and that we slept on the floor without any cover But nothing changed after his visit. Then in 1968 another white man, named Andrea, came to the camp. He spoke French, Swahili and English and said that he was not Portuguese. He was accompanied by the Governor of Gaza Province, the camp commander and another 11
Object Description
Title | Mozambique revolution, no. 45 (1970 Oct.-Dec.) |
Description | Contents: Editorial: The coming victory (p. 1); Invasion of Guinea: The lesson for Africa (p. 3); War communique: Big offensive defeated (p. 6); Portuguese atrocities in Mozambique: Hears the evidence (p. 8); Cahora Bassa: Why we say no (p.13); The struggle in Niassa province by Niassa's military commander (p.15); Journey with a camera: British film-makers in Mozambique (p.18); Once they came with sweets and gifts: Portuguese psychological warfare (p. 20); Streamlined exploitation: Caetano calls it 'autonomy' (p. 23). |
Subject (lcsh) |
Nationalism -- Mozambique Self-determination, National Mozambique -- History Portugal -- Politics and government -- 1933-1974 |
Geographic Subject (Country) | Mozambique |
Geographic Subject (Continent) | Africa |
Geographic Coordinates | -18.6696821,35.5273465 |
Coverage date | 1961/1970-11 |
Creator | Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) |
Publisher (of the Original Version) | Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO). Department of Information |
Place of Publication (of the Origianal Version) | Dar Es Salaam, U.R. of Tanzania |
Publisher (of the Digital Version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
Date issued | 1970-10/1970-12 |
Type |
texts images |
Format | 28 p. |
Format (aat) | newsletters |
Language | English |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Part of collection | Emerging Nationalism in Portuguese Africa, 1959-1965 |
Part of subcollection | Mozambique Collection |
Rights | The University of Southern California has licensed the rights to this material from the Aluka initiative of Ithaka Harbors, Inc., a non-profit Delaware corporation whose address is 151 East 61st Street, New York, NY 10021 |
Physical access | Original archive is at the Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies. Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343. |
Repository Name | USC Libraries Special Collections |
Repository Address | Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 |
Repository Email | specol@usc.edu |
Filename | CENPA-344 |
Description
Title | CENPA-344~13 |
Filename | CENPA-344~13.tiff |
Full text | thought that this was not yet enough to make me change my views and so they took me to place called Mtcnde in Mocimboa da Praia region, where they took four pregnant women and cut open their stomachs with a knife, one by one. Then they took Sura Imani and shot him with a pistol. They made me witness these things because they wanted to make me afraid and therefore to stop me making propaganda for the party. 1 was then taken from Mocimboa da Praia to Ibo Island a heavy punishment prison for people from all over Mozambique. When we arrived there we were made to walk for about twelve hours without food or water. On arrived at the prison we were made to walk through a line of policemen armed with whips and rubber tipped sticks First we were beaten by the whips, then the sticks, and then both at the same time. At that time Ibo was a new prison. For three months we were fed only on dried, uncooked cassava, two pieces in the morning and two in the afternoon. They also put water in our cells in the evening and we were obliged to sleep in water so that we do not sleep properly. About three months later, in January 1965, they changed our diet to rotten cassava and rotten fish that would otherwise have been thrown away, bought from Vila Cabral. After the cassava was cooked it was just placed on the cement floor and we were forced to eat off the floor. In January 1965 they decided to put in our cells four drums in each corner which we had to use as a W.C. When the drums were full they chose about eight people to go put their faces in the drums. 1 was the first one chosen for this along with other comrades including Chitane and Antonio Cheira. There was one section of PIDE stationed there especially to interrogate the prisoners. When you were taken for interrogation at the PIDE section there were three men armed with a whip, rubber - tipped stick, and palmatoria and you are beaten on the stomach an sides and made to confess what you knew about FRELIMO guerillas. About 160 men died of this kind of torture, and about ten were killed with pistols, including a sheikh of the Muslim religion named Fazeira Yusufi Seeing these tortures, my hatred increased and I decided to tell the Chief of PIDE that this way he might finish off the Mozambican people, but that would not stop people fighting for their independence. He said that I was talking like a madman when 1 said that the people were only fighting for their rights and ordered that I be immediately punished with 20 strockes of the palmato - ria. At this point a member of the Group enquired whether the number of people stated as having died was just a general statement or whether this was an accurate number of those who died in Ibo prison. Mr Shauri replied: Those 160 men were killed on Ibo island. I saw them be ing killed. There was an order from Administrator Cha- mbino that I should be made to witness all the tortures because I was susppected of having been politically active in Mozamhique. But on Ibo island many more than 160 died, and these are just the cases I witnessed myself. The Chairman then asked why it was that he was made to watch these things, and why he himself was not killed. The witness explained: My opinion is that the Portuguese thought that 1 was a leader of the movement, as they knew 1 had been undertaking many political activities. Moreover, many legal proceedings had been undertaken against me and it was a well known fact that I was being held prisoner. They feared to kill me lest this should cause even more unrest among the people. Indeed Administrator Rot ha from Mocimboa da Praia had once forbidden my execution for this very reason, and also that of my brother Mohamed Shauri. (My brother is still in prison). There had been no such legal proceedings against many of the other prisoners and few people knew they were there. They were just arrested, tortured and killed. The bodies of executed prisoners used to he transported in some kind of trailer pulled by a tractor. They used to put sand in the trailer and the bodies on top. Then when it arrived at the common grave the bodies would just be tipped in and the sand would fall on top, covering everything. ■» In the morning they used to open the prison and order the prisoners to go for a bathe in the sea. On the way to the sea they had covered the path with thorn branches, which we were forced to walk over. In March 1965 we were transferred by ship from Ibo to Lourenco Marqiles, to Machava Prison. Here there were small cells, some containing already 150 prisoners. They did not even have enough space to sleep and some had to sleep on top of each other. We were crowded into the same cells with them. Even when we complained, they refused to change this. In January 1966 we were transferred to Mabalane. Limpopo, where we were put on forced labour opening up new land, cultivating and planting cotton, rice, millet and maize. The terrain was full of big trees and each prisoner had to cut down one big tree. If he had to rest he was beaten and forced back to work. We worked from six in the morning until six in the evening under thc supervision of a Portuguese called Ribeiro.» <(In 1967 a man named Ousman came to visit the camp of Mabalane. It was said that he was from the United Nations and was checking on our living conditions. He saw that we were dressed in sacks because the one pair of shorts and shirt given to us on arrival were already torn, and that we slept on the floor without any cover But nothing changed after his visit. Then in 1968 another white man, named Andrea, came to the camp. He spoke French, Swahili and English and said that he was not Portuguese. He was accompanied by the Governor of Gaza Province, the camp commander and another 11 |
Archival file | Volume21/CENPA-344~13.tiff |