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Victim describes tortures

By MEL DOIG

listened to two young South
Stonamese women at the 5th
eeeolm Conference on Viet-
‘ mM two weeks ago: They didn’t
| a as other delegates did,
F ating up. Rather, they sat—
‘ ei yzed, able to walk only
wilt help; the other half-blinded
ie quietly and with gentle ges-

Tes they told the Conference
Elegates of the tortures and
Fo atrocities they had them-
oe Suffered and seen others
St €r at the hands of United

‘tes and allied troops in South

letnam.

Nguyen Thi Hong, 34 years
an a Saigon factory worker,
a ham Thi Phong, a 29-year

Villager from the province
che uang Nam on the China Sea
a St, both still lissom, graceful
lows in spite of the agon-
fe €y have endured, had come
eek for peace—peace for
Bes brave people and mankind,
a for all the world’s women

children.

ae Thi Phong told the

€rence of the burning of her

@ge and of neighboring ones,
aw U.S. and allied troops

a Stenades and toxic gases
oe villagers out of shelters,
able © survivors into indescrib-
car Misery in concentration
Ca Ps. Of her testimony the

Nadian Tribune will report in

ter issue.

Thi Is is in part what Nguyen
to Hong, the former girl fac-
sad Worker related to the Con-
erence:

joa arrested twice and
Seven years in various

a in South Vietnam. In
ore instime of 1955 Bao Dai
7 eee those of his rivals,
Stat Sides agents of the United
Urb es, fought a battle in a sub-
ame Saigon, burning 30,000
y ad to the ground in their
\ ioineg = Every Sunday after I
if Reith thousands of others
less, * iene relief to the home-
wage: July 13, 1955 when I

ah Tst arrested, along with

Y others.

' bie sent to the investigation
iaile u and cruelly tortured as

TS tried to force me to con-
Suppo at I was a Communist
De Tter and to denounce other

Sn as Communists.

Us were driven into my fin-
fae and toes. They forced me
clubs ress: I was beaten with
shock and tortured with electric

s

y .: Water was forced into
iumpe S€ and mouth. Then they
and) on. my stomach. Water
my 5 Ood were forced out of
"Were UY: My hands and legs
Sticks tied during the torture.

ed j and clubs were introduc-
‘O my sexual organs. I lost
10usness,

in torture
tteq

da;
t
s from
00,

Ons c

was» repeated
three times a day. They
torturing me at six in
Morning until ten. Then
two until six in the ‘after-
night. and seven until eleven at

| Nai
Sta;

F :
carrion this first prison they
Curity me to the Central Se-

tary golice Bureau in the mili-
Nhs atracks area of Saigon.
Sign, International Commis-

in 19 ae had been stationed
The in near these barracks.)
Cen : vestigation bureau of the
“Sera Security Police was in a
the < Part of this prison, and
kepp Crture implements were

Secretly under lock and

tor ypnderwent six months of
In this prison, nearly
hree times. When I was

at’s what I was doing on.

sa et

%

almost lifeless, the security po-
lice transferred me to a hospi-
tal, not to save my life for any
other reason than to continue
trying to get information from
me.

From hospital I was returned
to prison for further “briefing’’.
Now besides barbarous treat-
ment they tried to bribe me with
promises of beautiful clothes,
money, etc. When I refused to
sign a paper sending me to trial
as a woman of the streets, they
beat me almost to death. :

During what is called the
“briefing” in the security prison
I witnessed many people dying
from torture, vomitting black in
their final agonies. Many others
were ‘paralyzed. All this was
done by people who call them-
selves civilized—the Americans
and their Saigon puppets.

On January 2, 1956, one year
after the restoration of peace in
Vietnam, I was sent to prison
on a small island. It was un-
populated. On the ship there
were 600 prisoners, including
women and children and old
people. They sent mentally sick
people with us. Madmen wan-
dering in Saigon streets had been
arrested, accused of spreading
Communist propaganda. Blind,
helpless wanders were with us,
charged with subversion.

On this island the prison,
made of corrugated metal, was
smaller than the one in Saigon.
The governor of the island at
first refused to receive us, say-
ing there was no room on the
island’for the old people, women
and children.

(Nguyen Thi Hong then relat-
ed the treatment given them on
the island: Forced hard labor on
a daily diet of one small bowl
of rotten rice. No water for
washing, but in winter, cold
water thrown on the naked pris-
oners. The jailers used every
torture to: make their victims
hail the Saigon regime and sign
petitions asking the United
States to maintain its troops in
Vietnam. For her refusal, tor-
tures and bribery.)

Finally, on the island, as the
result of a terrible beating I was
almost dead. Again I was sent
to hospital where they left me
alone. My family took advan-
tage of this and brought me
home. For three years I received
medical treatment.

Then, on May 27, 1960 I was
arrested for the second time. I
remained in jail until the begin-
ning of 1965, Prison was noth-
ing new.

On the evening of the day of
my second arrest I came out of
the house about 8.00 p.m. to
buy flowers. When I came to

WOMEN OF VIETNAM. Soldiers of the National Liberation Front.

eS

the florist stand I found a num-
ber of strangers standing there,
They arrested me. They told me
they had thought me dead, that
they had released me by mistake
and would set me free—if I
were dead.

They gave me the same ior-
tures as before. But there was
something new—powdered lime
was inserted in my eyes and

“into my genitals. Sticks were

forced into my eyes. My eyes
were blackened, and for several
months I couldn’t see anything.
They brought me to security
headquarters and again the same
Americans came to torture and
to bribe me...

Towards the end of 1961 I be-
came almost completely para-
lyzed. In fetters, my legs and
arms chained, I had to do every-
thing on the spot.

In this condition, I was put in
an underground “disciplinary
cell”. There they put only one
demand to me. I -was not to be
asked to take part in any anti-
communist prison demonstra-
tions nor in salutes to the Uni-
ted States’ Saigon regime. I was
just to whisper to them, “Down
with Communism”. That condi-
tion fulfilled, I would be sent
for medical treatment in a mod-
ern hospital, clothes and money
would be given me. Again I re-
fused. They beat me over and
over again.

They sent a nurse to verify
that I was dead. The nurse found
I was paralyzed, my body and
my hands horribly scarred. She
ordered the fetters removed
from my limbs. She protested to
the jailers and said if they called
nurses there again they would
not come.

By the end of 1964 when I

was at the point of death, they
called my relatives to take me
away, completely paralyzed.

Ever since I left prison five
years ago I have received medi-
cal treatment. Today I am only
thirty percent paralyzed. How-
ever, my Sight is still very weak,
and I need the help of others
to walk. Of all my fingers and
toes through which nails were
driven there remains only one
big toe that is unhealed, al-
though operated on five times.

Today, sitting here in com-
fort and freedom, I cannot help
but remember the seven long
years of prison, the many friends
still there, among them count-
less women and children. I
would like to join my voice to
yours for an end to such tor-
tures imposed on our people,
and I think this is an urgent
demand. On behalf of all the
women and innocent children,
we thank you.

PU

at

“Unless the United Nations
acts soon or the U.S. changes its
policy, we are headed for worse
and more disastrous events in
the Middle East,” said Dr. James
G. Endicott, chairman of the
Canadian Peace Congress after
attending the Baghdad Confer-
ence of the Asian. and Arab
Peace Committees, April 8-14.

The Conference was attended
by representatives from Europe
and. the Americas as well as
from Asia and Africa. April 9

_ was proclaimed as a day of soli-

darity with the struggle of the
Palestinian Arabs, who are de-
prived of their homeland, living
either in exile or under foreign
occupation

“The Israeli government has
flouted all resolutions passed by
the United Nations. . ., has im-
posed its will on its neighbors
by brute military force,” declar-
ed Dr. Endicott in his statement
on the Baghdad Conference,
which proclaimed the will of the
Asian and Arab peoples, and
the peoples of the world, to put
an end to the aggression of the
Zionists and bring about their
withdrawal from the occupied
territories.

Romesh Chandra, general sec- -

retary of the World Peace Coun-
cil, emphasized that “what is
being forged today at this con-
ference is the unity of all anti-
imperialist forces.”

The conference also organiz-
ed support in the Arab world
for the struuggle of the Viet-
namese people.

Canadian opposition to the

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‘END Sees
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PRESSURE IMPERATIVE
FOR NEAR EAST PEACE

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criminal U.S. war in Vietnam
was manifested in the April 18
March on Ottawa and peace
demonstration on _ Parliament
Hill. (Last week’s Canadian Tri-
bune story of that March inad-
vertantly omitted to mention
that a large group of members
of. the Association of United
Ukrainian Canadians took part
in it.),

On that same weekend, the
Thunder Bay Peace Council pro-
moted a motorcade to the U.S.
border where E. Rogers and G.
Lenton, chairman and member
respectively of the Peace Coun-
cil addressed an _ out-of-doors
meeting. A resolution was sent
to Nixon demanding the United
States stop its war in Vietnam
and withdraw its troops uncon-
ditionally. The meeting also de-
nounced the American govern-
ment’s unilateral decision to in-
stall the Anti-Ballistic Missile
System on the U.S.-Canada
border.

The. National Executive of-the
Canadian. Peace Congress in a
telegram to President Nixon on
April 17 expressed its horror at
“the genocide of Vietnamese

‘people in Cambodia,” and de-

clared that ‘‘public opinion holds
the CIA responsible for these
crimes.”

Full support of the demands
of Canadian farmers that the
federal government buy up all
surplus food and make it avail-
able to those in need was ex-
pressed in a letter sent Prime
Minister Trudeau by the Cana-
dian Peace Congress executive.

A section of the Ottawa peace march on April 18th

Canadian protest

End foreign interference’

Over 200 people took to the
streets in front of the U.S. Con-
sulate. and the British Govern-
ment Offices in Toronto only
nours after the press reported
that United States navy war-
ships were steaming toward
Trinidad-Tobago.

The protest was organized by
PLUS and included members of
Toronto’s West Indian commun-
ity as well:as other concerned
citizens, black and white who,

in spite of very short notice took’

part to protest Canada’s role in
the Caribbean.

Speakers at the noon-hour
rally expressed solidarity with
the people of Trinidad-Tobago
and called for action against im-

perialism and the evils of rac-
ism, Oppression and war.

In a statement handed to
passers-by, PLUS said: ‘The is-
sue is clear. The people of Trin-
idad are fighting for the free-
dom to make the decisions
which: efféct thir lives. They
are fighting for wiack Power,
which for them means the pow-
er of the Black and Indian peo-
ple of their islands to control
their Own economic and political
destiny — to overcome the teri-
rible mass unemployment which
keeps them in poverty. They
are fighting to break the grip
of the United States oil com-
panies, the British sugar trusts,
the Canadian banks and insur-
ance companies .. .”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 1, 1970—Page 7