Chris Smith: “Mr. Speaker, torture remains a cruel weapon of choice for antidemocratic, dictatorial regimes around the globe. It is…”

“Mr. Speaker, torture remains a cruel weapon of choice for antidemocratic, dictatorial regimes around the globe. It is used to silence opposition leaders and to suffocate political dissent. Today, torture is commonplace and, sadly, systematic. In many countries around the globe, including the People's Republic of China, Cuba, and many countries in Africa, the Middle East, it is used to extract confessions. It is used to humiliate, to punish. It is used to crush people's souls and hearts and their bodies and to break them while they are in captivity. Torturers themselves, it turns out and is no surprise to any of us, are sadistic and cruel beyond imagination. Mr. Speaker, even torturing a single, carefully targeted individual can have a multiplier effect, sending a message of fear throughout the entire community and even across generations. For example, the paralyzing effect of torture is painfully clear in Turkmenistan where countless people have been tortured, killed and disappeared in the wake of last year's November 25 attack on President Niyazov's motorcade. We see it throughout China, especially regarding people who are part of the Falun Gong. Hundreds of them have been tortured to death simply because of their expression of their conscience in that religious expression.”