- John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936 in Panama Canal Zone) is an American politician, decorated war veteran, and currently the Republican Senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. He was a presidential candidate in the 2000 election, but was defeated by George W. Bush for the Republican nomination. On February 28, 2007, during a guest appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman", …
- Maher Arar
Maher Arar (born 1970 in Syria) is a Canadian software engineer who is perhaps the most well-known victim of the United States policy of extraordinary rendition, a process where detainees are transferred from one country to another, with the expectation that they may be tortured in the country to which they are rendered.
- Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a prisoner in U.S. custody for acts of terrorism, including mass murder. In March 2007, after four years in captivity, including six months of detention at Guantanamo Bay, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — as it was claimed by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing in Guantanamo Bay — confessed to masterminding the September 11th attacks, the Richard Reid shoe bombing attempt to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean, …
- Abu Zubaydah
Abu Zubaydah was, according to American authorities, a high-ranking member of al-Qaida and close associate of Osama bin Laden, though there are doubts of his power and connections due to the fact that most information came from interrogations where Zubaydah may have exaggerated his and al-Qaida's role in international terror. He is currently in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Zubaydah's name is often transliterated as Abu Zubaidah, …
- Mamdouh Habib
Mamdouh Habib is an Egyptian born Australian Muslim best known for his incarceration at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. He was born in 1956 in Egypt, moved to Australia in 1980, became a citizen there, married Maha, had four children, and taught Islam. After being released without charge he ran as an independent political candidate in New South Wales legislative election, 2007, but failed to gain a seat after polling 5% in his electorate.
- Ilan Halimi
Ilan Halimi (1982? - 13 February 2006) was a young French Jew (of Moroccan parentage) kidnapped on 21 January 2006 by a gang of Muslim immigrants called the "Barbarians" and subsequently tortured to death over a period of three weeks. The murder, amongst whose motives authorities include anti-Semitism, incited a public outcry in a France already marked by intense public controversy about the role of children of immigrants in its society.
- Sheila Cassidy
Sheila Cassidy (born 1937) is a British doctor, known for her work in the hospice movement, as a writer and as someone who, by publicising her own ill treatment, drew attention to human rights abuse in Chile in the 1970s. Cassidy grew up and went to school in Australia. She began her medical studies at the University of Sydney, Australia and completed them at the Oxford University in the UK (1963).
- Baha Mousa
Baha Mousa was an Iraqi civilian who died whilst in British custody in Basra during September 2003. On 14 September 2003 Baha, a 26 year old hotel receptionist, was arrested along with six other men and taken to a British base. Whilst in detention it is claimed that Baha and the other captives were hooded and severely assaulted by a number of British troops. Two days later Baha was found dead.
- Leo K. Thorsness
Leo K. Thorsness (born February 14, 1932) is a decorated United States Military veteran and retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force. Thorsness was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor in the Vietnam War, for an air engagement on April 19, 1967. He was shot down two weeks later and spent six years in captivity as a prisoner of war.
- Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is one of the aliases of the Saudi al-Qaeda member Abdul-Rahim Hussein Muhammad 'Abdu (عبد الرحيم حسين محمد عبده). Other aliases include Mullah Bilal, Mohammed Omar al-Harazi, and Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Nashari. He is alleged to be the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing and other terrorist attacks, …
- Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Abed Hamed Mowhoush was a major general believed to be in command of the Iraqi Air Force or Iraqi air defence during the regime of Saddam Hussein immediately prior to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, until his capture by United States forces on 10 November, 2003. He died on 26 November, 2003 while in U.S. custody at the Al-Qaim detention facility approximately 200 miles (321 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, …
- Manadel Al-Jamadi
Manadel Jamadi was an Iraqi prisoner who was tortured to death in United States custody during interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison in November 2003. His name became known in 2004 when the Abu Ghraib scandal made news; his corpse, packed in ice, was the background for widely-reprinted pictures of grinning United States Army Specialists Sabrina Harman and Charles Graner, each offering a "thumbs-up" gesture. But the cause of his death was not generally known until February 17, …
- Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Omar Abu-Ali is an American citizen who was convicted of providing material support to the al Qaeda terrorist network. Born in Houston, Texas and raised in Falls Church, Virginia, Abu Ali was valedictorian of his class at the Islamic Saudi Academy high school in nearby Alexandria. In June 2003, he was arrested in Saudi Arabia while taking his final exams at the Islamic University of Medina. Twenty months later (February 2005), he was transferred to US custody.
- Jacobo Timerman
Jacobo ben Nathan Timerman (January 6, 1923 - November 11, 1999) was a publisher, journalist, and author. Born in Bar, Ukraine, Timerman's family emigrated to Argentina in 1928.
- Asif Ali Zardari
President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday offered peace talks to militants in Pakistan's troubled northwest even as security forces claimed to have killed more than 50 rebels in an operation in the tribal belt. ... Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said Thursday that Pakistan would continue to pursue a resolution of the Kashmir dispute based on the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
- William Sampson
William Sampson is a dual British and Canadian national who was arrested on December 17, 2000 in Saudi Arabia. He was one of 8 people of British, Belgian and Canadian nationalities arrested on suspicion of being involved in planting and detonating a car bomb planted on a Blazer SUV in Riyadh that killed British engineer Christopher Rodway and injured his wife. A second bomb placed in another Blazer SUV, four days later injured Britons Mark Paine and Steve Coughlan.
- Muzafar Avazov
Muzafar Avazov was an Uzbekistan torture victim. He died in 2002, apparently from religiously-motivated state torture. Human Rights Watch recorded his death as "suspicious" with apparent signs of torture, highlighting Uzbekistan's repression of independent Muslims. Individuals who had seen the body told Human Rights Watch that it showed clear signs of torture.
- Nagem Hatab
Nagem Hatab was an Iraqi who was beaten to death in Camp Whitehorse shortly after the Invasion of Iraq. Hatab is said to have been a Ba'ath party member.
- Benyam Mohammed
Benyam (Benjamin) Mohammed al Habashi (also transliterated as Binyam Mohammed) (b. 1979) is an Eritrean national who is detained in Guantanamo Bay prison. In 1994, Mohammed sought asylum in the UK. He was captured and transported in the frame of the US extraordinary rendition program. In June 2001, Mohammed travelled to Afghanistan. The reasons for the trip are in dispute.
- Alberto Bachelet
Alberto Arturo Miguel Bachelet Martínez was a Brigadier General of the Chilean Air Force. He opposed the coup of General Augusto Pinochet, and was imprisoned and subject to torture for several months until his death in 1974 of heart problems. He was married to anthropologist Ángela Jeria Gómez and they have a daughter, the current President of Chile Michelle Bachelet.
- Sandy Mitchell
Sandy Mitchell was one of seven men incarcerated in Saudi Arabia for the bombing death of Christopher Rodway, a Brit living in Riyadh. While in prison, he alleges he was tortured and forced to make a televised confession in which he detailed the methods and as to which he and his fellow prisoners committed the crime. He was later granted clemancy and returned to the UK, as a result of intense negotiations by Charles, …
- Jeremiah Denton
Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. (born July 15 1924 in Mobile, Alabama) is a retired U.S. Navy admiral and a former U.S. senator of the Republican party. He spent almost eight years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and later wrote a book about his experiences.
- Mohamed Al-Kahtani
Mohamed Mani Ahmad al-Kahtani (sometimes transliterated Muhammed Al Kahtani or al-Qahtani or other ways) is an alleged member of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. He allegedly intended to come to the United States to take part in the September 11, 2001 attacks as a "muscle hijacker", but he was prevented due to suspicions that he was attempting to immigrate.
- Michelle Michelle Bachelet
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria is a center-left politician and the current President of Chile—the first woman to hold this position in the country's history. She won the 2006 presidential election in a runoff, beating center-right billionaire businessman and former senator Sebastián Piñera, with 53.5% of the vote. A moderate Socialist, she campaigned on a platform of continuing Chile's free market policies, …
- Bashir Makhtal
Bashir Makhtal (born 1977 in Ethiopia) is a Canadian is held in an Ethiopian jail without Canadian consular access. He is alleged to be a victim of the policy of extraordinary rendition, a process where detainees are transferred from one country to another, with the expectation that they may be tortured in the country to which they are rendered.
- Premawathi Manamperi
Premawathi Manamperi (1951-1971) was a Kataragama beauty queen who was raped and murdered by Sri Lankan troops in 1971. Her murder attracted national attention and was a major issue addressed in the 1977 election. UNP candidate Ranasinghe Premadasa discussed the attack in great detail and condemned Sirimavo Bandaranaike's handling of the crime to discredit his opponent. Also Baila singer Anton Jones wrote and sang a song about Premawathi.
- Mary Madeleine
Mary Madeleine also known as Chitra was a minority Sri Lankan Tamil women who was raped and murdered along with her two children and husband in Vankalai in Mannar in Sri Lanka in the ongoing Sri Lankan Civil War on June 8 2006. She was 27 years old.
- François Bozizé
François Bozizé Yangouvonda is the President of the Central African Republic. He came to power in March 2003 after leading a rebellion against President Ange-Félix Patassé and ushered in a transitional period of government. He won the country's 2005 presidential election; he received the most votes in the first round in March 2005, but less than a majority, requiring a second round, which he won in May 2005.
- Nicholas Owen
Saint Nicholas Owen, often known as Little John (died 2 March 1606), was an English martyr who built several priest holes in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Little is known of his early life, but it is believed that he was born around 1550 into a devoutly Catholic family. He became a carpenter by trade, and for several years built hiding-places for priests in the homes of Catholic families. He frequently travelled from one house to another, …
- Olga Talamante
Olga Talamante became the first Executive Director of the Chicana Latina Foundation in January 2003. Prior to this position, she was the Western Region Vice President of INROADS, a career and leadership development organization aimed at Latino, African American and Native American college students pursuing careers in business and engineering. In that position, she supervised the organization's 12 regional offices located throughout the western United States and in Mexico.
- Johannes Junius
Johannes Junius (1573- August 6, 1628) was the Burgomeister of Bamberg, famous today for his letter written to his daughter from jail while he awaited execution for witchcraft. Junius became Burgomeister in 1608 and remained in that position until his arrest, which came shortly after his wife had been executed on similar charges. He was implicated in witchcraft by other victims of the witch craze (which was particularly pronounced in Bamberg, …
- Satar Jabar
Satar "Peller" Jabar was a prisoner at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq, during the early years of the U.S.-led Iraq War (2003 to present). During his detention there, he was subjected to psychological torture by members of the U.S. military. Jabar was not in Abu Ghraib on charges of terrorism, as is commonly believed, but rather for carjacking.
- Kristian Menchaca
Kristian Menchaca (May 29, 1983-June 19 2006), Houston, Texas, was a United States Private First Class of the U.S. Army. He was married to Christina Menchaca of Big Spring in September 2005, before he was deployed to Iraq.
- Anne Askew
Anne Askew (Ayscough) (1521 - 16 July 1546) was an English poet and member of the Reformed Church who was persecuted as a heretic. She is the only woman on record to have been tortured in the Tower of London, before being burned at the stake. Born at Stallingborough into a notable family of Lincolnshire, she was forced by her father, Sir William Askew (Ayscough), to marry the Catholic Thomas Kyme when she was just 15, as a substitute for her sister who had died.
- Deng Pufang
Deng Pufang (born 16 April 1944) is the first son of Deng Xiaoping and his third wife Zhuo Lin. He is considered a member of the Crown Prince Party. During the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and his family were targeted by Mao Zedong; Mao's Red Guards imprisoned Deng Pufang. He was tortured and forced out of the window of a four-story building, becoming a paraplegic. Deng Pufang is currently the chairman of the China Disabled Persons' Federation, …
- John B McClelland
John B McClelland was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War. He was captured by American Indians during the Crawford Expedition and tortured to death at the Shawnee town of Wakatomika. McClelland was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and after moving to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, lived in that part which fell within Fayette County, Pennsylvania on its organization in 1783. He married Martha Dale on 12 November, 1759, and is burried in Wyandot County, …
- John B. McClelland
John B McClelland was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War. He was captured by American Indians during the Crawford Expedition and tortured to death at the Shawnee town of Wakatomika. McClelland was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and after moving to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, lived in that part which fell within Fayette County, Pennsylvania on its organization in 1783. He married Martha Dale on 12 November, 1759, and is buried in Wyandot County, …
- Arnold Ap
Arnold Ap was a West Papuan cultural leader, anthropologist and musician. Arnold was the leader of the group Mambesak, and Curator of the Cenderawasih University Museum. His prominent use of Papuan culture and music was seen as a challenge to the efforts of Indonesia against Papuan nationalism and identity. In November of 1983 he was arrested by the Indonesian military special forces Kopassus and imprisoned and tortured for suspected sympathies with the Free Papua Movement, …
- Lester Eugene Siler
Lester Eugene Siler, a convicted drug dealer, was beaten and tortured by Campbell County, Tennessee police during an interrogation at his home, during which officers attempted to coerce Siler to sign a consent form giving them permission to search his home without a warrant. On July 8, 2004, police officers entered the house of Lester Siler and tortured him using various methods, including applying electricity to his genitalia.
- Hardial Singh
Hardial Singh Bajaj (born April 05, 1905 in Khanga Dogran, British India died September 18, 1967 in Singapore). Son of Mehar Singh (father) and Thakur Devi (mother), the eldest of six children. In the early years, he worked as a porter unloading trucks. He was ridiculed by family for selling celebrity photos. He then worked as a hawker selling textile pieces from rolls he carried on his shoulders. He was first married in 1920 (at age 15) to Kirpal Kaur, …