PUNISHED ON THE SOLES OF THE FEET.

Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 37, 14 February 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

PUNISHED ON THE SOLES OF THE FEET.

"As I walk up the room a clock strikes the hour of two. The prefect offers me his hand, and at his invitation I take a seat by his side. Then a negro, clad in a long white robe, and wearing on his head an enormous yellow turban, brings me a cup of coffee and a bundle of cigarettes. As I hand back my cup to this imposing servitor three Arabs, escorted by two guards, are led before the prefect. These unfortunates seem to belong to the poorest of the people ; their feet aro tare, their clothing is worn and ragged, their hands tremble convulsively, their eyes are haggard, and their faces twitch in fear as they listen in mournful silence to the words addressed to them by the prefect. After the exchange of a few words, two of the prisoners are led from the room. Then five men enter. These are the torturers, and nothing more fell and hang-dog than their looks can bo imagined. Four of them seize the Arab, who is still standing before the prefect, and the poor wretch, as he is cast on the ground, throws at him a glance eloquent with agony and fear, but the great man's countenance remains fixed and impassive, and he makes no sign of grace. The victim was then placed on one of the slabs with his chest resting on the stone, in which position he was held by the executioners. Two others next raised his legs until his feet were in a horizontal position, in which they were retained by means of a cord fastened to either end of a stick. Each man held the stick with with one hand, while other kept fast hold of the Arab's legs. In the grip of those four powerful and expert men it was impossible for him to move and almost impossible for him to writhe. On this, the fifth torturor, who had taken no part in the preliminary proceedings, came forward holding in his hand a sort of lash consisting of five strands of twisted gut or hide. The face of this man is singularly hideous and repulsive. He raised his arm and struck with the regularity of a pendulum the upturned feet of his helpless victim, At the fourth stroke the Arab uttered a cry of pain, and at every fresh stroke the cry was repeated. But soon the cry became a scream, the flagellated flesh visibly shuddered, and the soles were seamed with red and livid streaks. Sitting silently on my cushion, chewing mechanically the tobacco of my extinguished cigarette, I could not help shivering with horror at the sight of so much suffering. I felt as if I were under the influence of some terrible nightmare. Osman Bey, his secretary, the five executioners, with their stern and sinister features, looking unmoved on bo cruel a sight, seemed for a moment rather the creations of a disorded imagination than beings of flesh and blood, but the heavy thud of the strokes and the screams of the victim recalled me to the sad reality which I was so reluctantly witnessing. Then, the punishment ceased, and the Arab, with ghastly face and body shaken with a feverish trembling, had to incline himself respectfully before the man by whose order he had been cruelly tormented. Helped by a guard, for his maimed and bleeding feet refused to support him, he was then led, still moaning with agony, from the torture chamber. The two other Arabs were afterwards punished in like manner. — " Hilaire Gray's Book on Egyptian Tortures."