{{Short description|Torture method}} {{about|the torture technique|the BDSM play|Strappado bondage|other uses}} {{redirect|Estrapade|the racehorse|Estrapade (horse)}} {{use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} [[File:The Strappado by Jacques Callot (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The strappado, used as public punishment; detail of plate 10 of {{lang|fr|Les Grandes Misères de la guerre}} by Jacques Callot, 1633]]
The '''strappado''', also known as '''corda''',<ref>{{cite book |last1 =Smollett |first1 =Tobias|title =The works of Tobias Smollett |volume=11 |date=1900 |publisher=Constable |oclc=646851669 |page=216 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ca08AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA216 |access-date =7 August 2016}}</ref> is a form of torture in which the victim's hands are tied behind their back and the victim is suspended by a rope attached to the wrists, typically resulting in dislocated shoulders.<ref name="cassar">{{cite book |last1=Cassar |first1=Paul |title=The Castellania Palace: From Law Courts to Guardian of the Nation's Health |date=1988 |publisher=Department of Information |location=Malta |pages=31–32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENexNwAACAAJ}}</ref><ref name="illum2016-07-08">{{cite news |last1=Boffa |first1=Christa |title=Palazz Castellania |url=http://www.illum.com.mt/ahbarijiet/socjali/42432/palazz_castellania#.V5yZyPl961t |work=Illum |date=8 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730125955/http://www.illum.com.mt/ahbarijiet/socjali/42432/palazz_castellania|archive-date=30 July 2016 |language=mt}}</ref> Weights may be added to the body to intensify the effect and to increase the pain.<ref name="borg-muscat">{{cite journal |last1=Borg-Muscat |first1=David |title=Prison life in Malta in the 18th century – Valletta's Gran Prigione |journal=Storja |date=2001 |pages=48–49 |url=http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Storja/Storja2001/05s.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416102655/http://melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Storja/Storja2001/05s.pdf |archive-date=16 April 2016}}</ref> This kind of torture would generally not last more than an hour without rest,<ref>{{cite book |last=Eton |first=William |date=1802 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNpbAAAAQAAJ&q=torture+of+the+cord&pg=RA1-PA70 |title=Authentic materials for a history of the principality of Malta |location=Oxford University |page=170 (70)}}</ref> as it would likely result in death.<ref name="The pathology of torture">{{cite journal |last1 =Pollanen |first1 =Michael S. |title =The pathology of torture |journal =Forensic Science International |date =March 2018 |volume =284 |pages =85–96 |doi =10.1016/j.forsciint.2017.12.022 |pmid=29367172 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
Other names for strappado include "reverse hanging", "Palestinian hanging",{{efn|The term "Palestinian hanging" has occurred in English from at least the 1980s}}<ref name=smh /><ref>{{cite book |page=109 |last = Goldhaber |first = Michael |title = A People's History of the European Court of Human Rights |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year = 2007 |isbn = 978-0-8135-3983-6 |quote=Mysteriously, this method is commonly called 'Palestinian hanging' today, although torture monitors say it is used by neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6E2B5z_X8MC&pg=PA109}}</ref><ref name=TandD>{{cite book |title = Torture and Democracy |url = https://archive.org/details/torturedemocracy00reja |url-access = limited |last = Rejali |first = Darius |author-link=Darius Rejali |publisher = Princeton University Press |year = 2007 |isbn = 978-0-691-11422-4 }}</ref>{{rp|p=355}} and {{lang|it|il tormento della corda}} (Italian: 'the torment of the rope').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.maltauncovered.com/points-of-interest-places-to-visit/inquisitors-palace-vittoriosa/ |title=The Inquisitor's Palace in Birgu (Vittoriosa) |website=Malta Uncovered |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603135315/http://www.maltauncovered.com/points-of-interest-places-to-visit/inquisitors-palace-vittoriosa/ |archive-date=3 June 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was employed by the medieval Inquisition and by many governments,<ref name="Inquisition from Its Establishment">{{cite book |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=DmL8CljbqDwC&dq=Torture+chamber+inquisitor&pg=PA159 |title =Inquisition from Its Establishment to the Great Schism: An Introductory Study |first1 =A. L. |last1 =Maycock |first2 =Ronald |last2 =Knox |publisher =Kessinger |year =2003 |isbn =0-7661-7290-2 |page =162}}</ref> such as the civil law court (1543–1798) of the Order of St. John at the Castellania in Valletta, Malta.<ref name="mepa">{{cite web |title=The Castellania |url=https://www.mepa.org.mt/castellania |publisher=Malta Environment and Planning Authority |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312100945/https://www.mepa.org.mt/castellania |archive-date=12 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cassar-Pullicino |first1=Joseph |title=Studies in Maltese Folklore |date=1992 |page=50 |publisher=Malta University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TbaAAAAMAAJ&q=castellania}}</ref>
The proper application of the strappado technique causes permanent but not visible damage. The levels of pain and resistance vary by victim depending on the victim's weight and on any additional weights added to the body.<ref name=TandD/>{{rp|pp=295-295}} It is not, as Samuel Johnson erroneously entered in ''A Dictionary of the English Language'', a "chastisement by blows".<ref>{{cite book |title =Samuel Johnson's Dictionary |editor-first =Jack |editor-last =Lynch |publisher =Levenger Press |location =Delray Beach, Florida |date =2004 |pages =10, 482}}</ref>
==Variants== {{multiple issues|section=yes| {{more citations needed section|date=October 2016}} {{original research|section|date=October 2016}}}} There are three variants of this torture. In the first, victims have their arms tied behind their backs; a large rope is then tied to the wrists and passed over a pulley, beam or a hook on the roof. The torturer pulls on this rope until the victim is hanging from the arms. Since the hands are tied behind the victim's back, this will cause a very intense pain and possible dislocation of the arms.<ref name="cassar"/><ref name="illum2016-07-08"/><ref name="maestrogianni">{{cite journal|last1=Attard|first1=Christian|title=The sad end of Maestro Gianni - A Neapolitan Buonavoglia and Sculptor|journal=Treasures of Malta|date=2013|issue=56|volume=XIX|url=https://www.academia.edu/7166765|page=49|publisher=Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti|issn=1028-3013|oclc= 499647242|location=Valletta}}</ref> The full weight of the subject's body is then supported by the extended and internally rotated shoulder sockets. While the technique shows no external injuries, it can cause long-term nerve, ligament or tendon damage. The technique typically causes brachial plexus injury, leading to paralysis or loss of sensation in the arms. Prolonged suspension may eventually cause infarction of the muscles of the shoulder and chest wall and subsequent rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney injury, and eventual death.<ref name="The pathology of torture"/>
The second variation, known as squassation, is similar to the first, but a series of drops are added, meaning that the victim is allowed to drop until their fall is suddenly checked by the rope.<ref name="borg-muscat"/> In addition to the damage caused by the suspension, the painful jerk would cause major stress to the extended and vulnerable arms, leading to broken shoulders. It is believed that this form of strappado was employed on Niccolò Machiavelli during his 1513 imprisonment after allegedly conspiring against the Medici family in Florence, who were also his primary patrons.{{fact|date=March 2025}}
In the third variant, the victim's hands are tied to the front. The victim is also hung from the hands, but the ankles are tied and a heavy weight is attached to them. This will cause pain and possible damage not only to the arms, but also to the legs and hips.{{fact|date=March 2025}}
==History== According to William Godwin, Girolamo Savonarola was tortured by strappado multiple times before being put to death in a trial by ordeal (fire). However, Savonarola apparently renounced his confessions after being tortured, and he was sentenced to be burned at the stake.<ref>{{cite book|first=John Abraham|last=Heraud|author-link=John Abraham Heraud|title=The life and times of Girolamo Savonarola: illustrating the progress of the Reformation in Italy, during the fifteenth century|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeandtimesgir00heragoog|year=1843|publisher=Whittaker|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeandtimesgir00heragoog/page/n403 371]}}</ref>
==Modern instances== thumb|upright|A sculpture depicting strappado
The "ropes" was one of several torture methods employed at the Hỏa Lò Prison, popularly known among Americans as the Hanoi Hilton during the 1964–1973 era of the Vietnam War.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/magazine/25stockdale.html |title=The Prisoner |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |first=Jonathan |last=Mahler |date=December 25, 2005|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The site was used by the North Vietnamese Army to house, torture, and interrogate captured servicemen, mostly American airmen shot down during bombing raids.<ref name="karnow-655">{{cite book | last=Karnow | first=Stanley | author-link=Stanley Karnow | title=Vietnam: A History | publisher=The Viking Press | year=1983 | isbn=0-670-74604-5 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamhistory00karn |page=655}}</ref> The aim of the torture was usually not to acquire information, but to break the will of the prisoners, both individually and as a group, and to extract written or recorded statements from the prisoners that would be critical of American conduct of the war and praise their captors.<ref name="afm-valor">{{cite book |last=Hubbell |title=P.O.W. |pages=288–306}}</ref>{{fcn|date=August 2025}}
According to a 1997 Human Rights Watch report, this technique was "widely employed" by the security forces of Turkey, where it is "usually used together with high-pressure water, electric shock, beating, or sexual molestation such as squeezing the testicles or breast or placing a nightstick against or in the vagina or anus."<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/turkey/Turkey-04.htm#P176_36663 Turkey: Torture and mistreatment in pre-trial detention by anti-terror police - Techniques of Abuse]</ref>{{fcn|date=August 2025}} In 1996, the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of torture for its use of reverse hanging.<ref>Case reports: *[http://www.hrcr.org/safrica/freedom_security/aksoy_turkey.html ''Aksoy v. Turkey''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508210551/http://www.hrcr.org/safrica/freedom_security/aksoy_turkey.html |date=8 May 2008 }}, no. 100/1995/606/694, 18 December 1996, from the [http://www.hrcr.org/ Human & Constitutional Rights Resource Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513091622/http://www.hrcr.org/ |date=13 May 2008 }} *European Commission on Human Rights, [http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/Hof.nsf/233813e697620022c1256864005232b7/d6ff575974b1f791c1256640004c3277?OpenDocument ''Aksoy v. Turkey''] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120802102354/http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/Hof.nsf/233813e697620022c1256864005232b7/d6ff575974b1f791c1256640004c3277?OpenDocument |date=2 August 2012 }}, Publication 1996-VI, no. 26, 18 December 1996, from the [http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/Dochome.nsf?Open Netherlands Institute of Human Rights] {{Webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20040113034426/http%3A//sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/Dochome.nsf?Open |date=2004-01-13 }}</ref> Turkey has been admonished by Amnesty International and other international human rights groups concerning the use of the technique.
In 2003, one of the Bulgarian nurses interrogated during the HIV trial in Libya, Snezhana Dimitrova, stated that she had been tortured in this way.
{{quote|They tied my hands behind my back. Then they hung me from a door. It feels like they are stretching you from all sides. My torso was twisted and my shoulders were dislocated from their joints from time to time. The pain cannot be described. The translator was shouting, "Confess or you will die here".<ref>{{cite news|first=Elisabeth|last=Rosenthal|author-link=Elisabeth Rosenthal|title=Time ebbing for 6 foreigners in Libya AIDS case|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/14/news/nurses.php|publisher=International Herald Tribune|date=14 October 2005|archive-date=15 October 2005|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051015222924/http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/14/news/nurses.php}}</ref>}}
In November 2003, suspected terrorist Manadel al-Jamadi was tortured to death at Abu Ghraib prison during a Central Intelligence Agency interrogation by members of the U.S. military. It was revealed in February 2005 that al-Jamadi had died after 30 minutes of interrogation, during which he was suspended by the wrists bound behind his back.<ref name=smh>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/US-troops-accused-of-Palestinian-hanging-torture/2005/02/18/1108609385820.html |title='Palestinian hanging' torture revealed - After Saddam |work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=18 February 2005|access-date=20 July 2017 |quote=The prisoner died in a position known as 'Palestinian hanging,' documents reviewed by The AP showed.}}</ref>
Richard Belmar has stated that he was repeatedly subjected to this torture method as a punishment during his extrajudicial detention at the Parwan Detention Facility in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2005.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/feb/27/guantanamo.usa|title=Beatings, sex abuse and torture: how MI5 left me to rot in US jail |first=David |last=Rose |date=27 February 2005|work=The Observer|accessdate=30 January 2022}}</ref>
In 2017, video footage was released of Iraqi Army members inflicting strappado torture following successes in the Battle of Mosul.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/deepdive/brian-ross-investigates-the-torture-tapes-47429895 |title=Iraqi troops torture and execute civilians in secret videos |work=ABC News |access-date=2017-07-20}}</ref>
In March 2023, the European Court of Human Rights found Ukraine (at the time under pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was later ousted as leader in the 2014 Euromaidan) in violation of the prohibition against torture, alleging that, in November 2003, police made use of strappado to coerce prisoner Mykola Slyvotskyy into falsely confessing his guilt for two murders that another person had previously confessed to committing.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coynash |first=Halya |date=9 March 2023 |title=ECHR finds Ukraine in violation over life prisoner tortured into confessing to somebody else's crime |url=https://khpg.org/en/1608811941 |access-date=9 March 2023 |publisher=Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |place=Kharkiv |quote=In the case of Klimov and ''Slyvotskyy v. Ukraine'', ECHR considered two applications involving allegations of ill-treatment by the police in order to extract false self-incriminating statements, and of ineffective investigation into their complaints. It found that Ukraine had violated Article 3 of the European Convention, namely the prohibition of torture, in both cases. The judgement explains that, according to Slyvotskyy, he was taken on 3 November 2003 to a forest, where several officers from the Voznesensk police 'subjected him to "Palestinian hanging", threatened to torture his relatives, punched and kicked him, and pressed pistols against his forehead in order to force him to confess to a murder.'}}</ref>
Strappado is sometimes used as a variant of the helicopter position for torture in Eritrea as of the early twenty-first century.<ref name="AI_ET_no_right2ask">{{cite Q|Q126913055|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|20}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Asian instruments of torture Category:European instruments of torture Category:Medieval instruments of torture Category:Modern instruments of torture Category:North American instruments of torture Category:Torture