Iranian Political Dissidents Were Subjected To White Torture

Dutch Conspirators Were Tortured With Rats And Hot Coals

During the Eighty Years' War, Northern Holland governor Diedrich Sonoy used torture to legitimize and strengthen his authority over the region.

He arrested eight men and charged them for a conspiracy to burn down a number of villages in Holland. For one of the condemned victims, Nanning Koppezoon, Sonoy put him on the rack and placed rats on him under a ceramic vessel. 

He put hot coals on the vessel, and with nowhere else to run from the heat, the rats burrowed into Koppezoon's body. Sonoy then put the hot coals into Koppezoon’s wounds.

Though this method of torture is prevalent in movies and popular culture, there are not many cases when this method was actually used. 

Iranian Political Dissidents Were Subjected To White Torture

A modern form of torture referred to colloquially as “White Torture” was used as a punishment and silencing measure on political dissidents, and reporters in Iran after an attempt of political reform in the 2000.

Used primarily to force detainees to sign confessions and provide information on their political affiliations, White Torture was a form of psychological torture, which combines prolonged solitary confinement and sensory deprivation. 

Former prisoner Amir Fakhravar said the pain and anguish from white torture far exceeded any physical torment he received from beatings and broken bones.