The Sound of Music: Music was torture in Guantanamo, says Binyam Mohamed

Binyam Mohammed said there was something worse in Guantanamo Bay than daily beatings and having his genitals slashed with razor blades. The torture methods he was talking about weren’t violent, but, he said, were far more disturbing and soul-destroying. He was talking about music.

Full volume, 24 hours a day. Image courtesy wired.com

Sounds bizarre, given what a pleasure (most) music is, but I do remember screaming at someone in my halls playing their music loudly while I was revising for my finals. I’m not being flippant, the monotony of a constant beat, or schmaltzy chorus, when I needed a clear head was too much to bear. Like a car alarm going off, over and over and over. When you don’t know when something’s going to end, have no control over it or anyone infront of you to blame, it’s excrutiating. Isn’t it?

For this reason, and more, music is being used as a new form of psychological torture in the so-called war against terror. On the website of legal charity Reprieve, Director Clive Stafford Smith says that Binyam Mohamed told him, from Guantanamo:

“They hung me up. I was allowed a few hours of sleep on the second day, then hung up again, this time for two days. My legs had swollen. My wrists and hands had gone numb…. There was loud music, [Eminem’s] ‘Slim Shady’ and Dr. Dre for 20 days…. The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night…. Plenty lost their minds. I could hear people knocking their heads against the walls and the doors, screaming their heads off.”

Mohamed was also threatened with having his eyes gouged out. But he said that losing his sight would be nowhere near as terrifying as losing his mind, which he felt he would after the repeated music torture.

James Lavelle Image: last.fm

Reprieve have launched a silent protest. The Zero dB project is backed by the Musicians Union, which is calling British musicians to make a stand against music torture. Artists who’ve backed the campaign include James Lavelle, Massive Attack, Elbow and The Magic Numbers

In a great video made for Zero dB, Tony Benn, who’s president of Stop the War coalition, said:

“The question of torture is a moral question: how you treat other people. So this idea that there’s a special type of war that justifies torture is a complete illusion. Nothing justifies torture.”

Music that’s been used by torturers includes:

• AC/DC – Shoot to Thrill
• Barney the Purple Dinosaur – theme tune
• Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
• Britney Spears
• Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA
• David Gray – Babylon
• Deicide – Fuck Your God
• Don McLean – American Pie
• Dope – Take Your Best Shot
• Drowning Pools – Bodies
• Eminem – Slim Shady
• Metallica – Enter Sandman
• Neil Diamond – America
• Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self-Destruct
• Prince – Raspberry Beret
• Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
• Sesame Street – theme tune
• Tupac – All Eyes on Me