Special report: Non-lethal weapons or torture tools?

Police had running battles with residents of Nkaneng shantytown. Burning and rock barricades were then set up in the township and police shot at, teargassed and also arrested some 14 residents. Many of the injured were women, one of which died. Nkaneng, Marikana, North West. South Africa, 15 September 2012.

Every day, South African police officers and prison wardens go to work, armed with legal tools that can be used to torture. Electric shock devices, tonfas, pepper spray and rubber bullets are classified as non-lethal weapons and therefore are assumed to be a safer alternative to guns. But the Omega Research Foundation (Omega) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) warned during a conference last week that they can be potentially lethal tools of torture. Omega and the ISS warn … Read more