Forced confession

The teacher Ursula painfully tortured, whipped, beaten, and finally burned in Maastricht, AD 1570 engraved by Jan Luyken 1685

A forced confession is a confession obtained from a suspect or a prisoner by means of torture (including enhanced interrogation techniques) or other forms of duress. Depending on the level of coercion used, a forced confession is not valid in revealing the truth. The person being interrogated may agree to the story presented to them or even make up falsehoods himself in order to satisfy the interrogator and discontinue his suffering.

For centuries the Latin phrase "Confessio est regina probationum" (in English: "Confession is the queen of evidence") justified the use of forced confession in the European legal system. When especially during the Middle Ages acquiring a confession was the most important thing during preparations before a trial, than the method used to get the confession seemed irrelevant, de facto sanctioning the use of torture to extract forced confession.

By the late 18th century, most scholars and lawyers thought of the forced confession not only as a relic of past times and morally wrong but also ineffective as the victim of torture may confess to anything just to ease their suffering.

Developments in the 20th century, notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, greatly reduced the legal acceptance of forced confessions. However, for most of legal history they have been accepted in most of the world, and are still accepted in some jurisdictions.

Modern-day usage

Bahrain

Mohamed Ramadan

Bahraini authorities refused for more than two years to investigate complaints regarding the torture of Mohamed Ramadan—a father-of-three on death row who was tortured into making a false confession.

In February 2014, Mohammed was arrested from Bahrain International Airport, where he worked as a police officer. He was accused of involvement in an attack on other police officers. There is no evidence tying him to the crime, according to Reprieve, who state that Mohammed is innocent and was arrested in retaliation for his attendance at peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations.

Following his arrest, Mohammed was tortured by police into signing a false confession. During his initial detention, police officers "told Mohammed outright that they knew he was innocent", but were punishing him as a traitor for attending pro-democracy demonstrations.

During his entire pre-trial detention, Mohammed was not allowed to meet with his lawyer. The day Mohammed's trial began was the first time he saw his lawyer's face. In that trial, he was convicted and sentenced to death almost solely on the basis of confessions extracted through prolonged torture.

Seven men under capital punishment (2016)

Reprieve, a human rights defender organisation, published an investigative report in 2016 about British involvement in Bahrain's regime atrocity. The report says that seven innocent men are facing the death penalty in Bahrain after being tortured into false confessions of crimes.

Sami Mushaima, Ali Al-Singace, Abbas Al-Samea (2017) Executed

On 15 January 2017, Bahraini authorities executed three torture victims following authorization by King Hamad. Sami Mushaima (42), Ali Al-Singace (21) and Abbas Al-Samea (27) were executed by firing squad.

Bahrain security forces (a force that includes foreign national forces) arrested Sami Mushaima in March 2014 and held him incommunicado for at least 11 days. Security officials subjected Mushaima to beatings, electrocution, and sexual assault. His front teeth were severely damaged. Mushaima's family believes he was coerced into falsely confessing through the use of torture.

Sami Mushaima, Ali Al-Singace, and Abbas Al-Samea are all torture victims rendered stateless and condemned to death following unfair trials. Their executions have sparked widespread protests across the country.

Maya Foa, a director of the international human rights group Reprieve, said:

It is nothing short of an outrage – and a disgraceful breach of international law – that Bahrain has gone ahead with these executions. The death sentences handed to Ali, Sami and Abbas were based on confessions extracted through torture, and the trial an utter sham. . . .

It would be shameful if the UK continued to support Bahrain's security apparatus and Ministry of Interior in the face of such terrible abuses.

The European Union also condemned the sentences.

"This case is a serious drawback given that Bahrain had suspended executions for... (several) years, and concerns have been expressed about possible violations of the right to a fair process for the three convicted," an EU statement said.

United States

Since 2001, as part of its War on Terror the United States using the CIA operates a network of off shore prisons, called black sites, probably the most famous of which is Guantánamo Bay detention camp. State officials have admitted to the press and in court to be using various torture techniques (authorised by the District attorney) to interrogate suspects of terrorism, sometimes after forced disappearance or extraordinary rendition by the United States.

When these systematic acts were made public by the international media, the European Union, United Nations, the international press and various human rights movements condemned their practice. The US Supreme Court did not discontinue their usage and repeatedly ruled against hearing citizens that underwent forced confessions, even after they were found innocent, claiming that a trial would constitute a breach of national security.

A famous case is that of Khalid El-Masri. He appealed several times aided by different international human rights movements and lawyers, yet the US Supreme Court retained its usage of forced confession techniques, and denied a hearing of the evidence.

China

Further information: Struggle session

The People's Republic of China systematically employed forced televised confession against Chinese dissidents and workers of various human rights group in an attempt to discredit, smear and suppress dissident voices and activism. This facet of state propaganda has come under the spotlight. These scripted confessions, obtained via systematic duress and torture, are broadcast on the state television. Notable victims includes Wang Yu, a female human rights lawyer, and Swedish citizen Peter Dahlin, an NGO worker and human rights activist. By the same token, owners of Causeway Bay Books – Gui Minhai and Lam Wing-kee – who were abducted by state security operating outside of Mainland China, also made such controversial confessions. Upon regaining his freedom, Lam detailed his abduction and detention, and recanted his confessions in Hong Kong to the media.

These televised confession and acts of contrition have been denounced as frauds by critics. Media organisations in China and in Hong Kong, including the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, have come under criticism for abetting the practice by circulating the “confessions” and in some cases even participating in them. Safeguard Defenders released a report in April 2018 in which 45 high-profile examples of the so-called confessions were broadcast between July 2013 and February 2018. More than half of the subjects were journalists lawyers, and other individuals involved in promoting human rights in China. The confessions were mostly by the subjects outside of the formal legal framework, in the absence of a trial, and without regard for the presumption of innocence under Chinese law. Many of those forced to record confessions explained to SD in detail how the videos were carefully scripted and made under the watchful eye of agents of the security apparatus, demonstrating their powerlessness once they are within the opaque Chinese legal system.

Iran

In June 2020 FIDH and its member organization Justice for Iran (JFI) in a 57-page report titled “Orwellian State: The Islamic Republic of Iran’s State Media as a Weapon of Mass Suppression,” reported that between 2009 and 2019, Iranian state-owned media IRIB broadcast the forced confessions of about 355 individuals and defamatory content against at least 505 individuals. The report is the outcome of more than 1,500 hours of research and analysis of over 150 programs and 13 in-depth interviews with victims of forced confessions.

See also

• Castellania
• False confession
• Perjury
• Right to silence
• Struggle session (Maoist China)
• Forced Confessions