Survivors' stories
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Admitting that he had been raped did not come easily for Saaed*. Even now, his therapist remains one of the very few people to whom he has disclosed this most painful aspect of his tortured history.
Over the course of four years of psychotherapy at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (MF), Saaed slowly unravelled the details of a two-year ordeal that drove him out of Iran.
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Growing up in a comfortable, middle class family, Brenda had high hopes of completing her education and becoming a midwife. But at the age of 32, her life was turned upside down. Her father was shot dead, her mother drifted into a coma from which she would never recover, and Brenda was detained and raped when she mistakenly went to the police hoping to find justice for her family.
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Josephine has been so deeply traumatised by a past so painful that the only thing that kept her from frequent thoughts of suicide is her daughter, a daughter born of rape, but a daughter who represents the family, the love and the hope that was stolen from Josephine by her tormenters. Four years after escaping to England, Josephine has slowly rebuilt trust in other people and has begun to create a new life.
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Three years ago Ali was a respected intellectual, inspiring his peers to rally against repression under the Islamic Republic of Iran. Never fearful of confrontation, he pitted himself against the religious academics who sought to silence him and challenged the military officials who would have seen him dead
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Farood's memory has been severely affected by years of torture and subsequent operations to correct his physical defects. His ability to concentrate is further hampered by frequent intrusive thoughts about his experiences and an overbearing anxiety about the future, which he feels powerless to influence.
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"When I was sent back to Turkey, I knew that I was going to be tortured again. My heart was pounding the entire flight. I wanted to kill myself." Kazim is one of several clients seen at the MF forcibly returned by the UK Government to the very countries responsible for their torture and ill-treatment.
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Politics played no part in Lindie's life until she was mistakenly labelled a "failed asylum seeker" by a British organisation and subsequently scapegoated as an opposition spy by Zimbabwe's ruling ZanuPF party. From that point on, Lindie and her four children were subjected to relentless intimidation that ultimately saw the family divided and Lindie exiled to the UK.
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It has been four long years since Tendai saw her two children. They live in Zimbabwe only avoiding the government's murderous intentions by feigning allegiance to the Zanu PF party that raped and hounded their mother out of the country.
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Ndaka is one of an estimated 11,000 Zimbabweans currently living in the UK after fleeing the violent political conflict that continues to grip their country. Like many others, she has been refused asylum, despite the UK Government's public condemnation of President Mugabe's terrorising rule, the victims of which have widely recounted their experiences.
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Five years ago, standing in front of a crowd would have paralysed Robert Kabemba with fear. For a political activist who had faced off his oppressors, this was a crippling low. Now, he can once again hold an audience in awe, showcasing a poetic talent that has stunned even himself.