A
mock execution is a method of psychological
torture, whereby the subject is made to
believe that he is being led to his execution. This usually
involves
blindfolding the subject, making
him recount last wishes, or making him dig his own
grave, and sometimes it can go as far as
forcing the victim to watch a single or multiple real executions
taking place under the same circumstances to make the victim
believe he or she is next. Discharging a firearm near (but not at)
the victim, or firing
blanks,
might end the mock execution.
It is hoped that by making the subject believe that he is to be
executed they will be inflicted with severe
psychological trauma. This may
eventually lead to a break down where the victim would say anything
to make it stop, or it might act as a warning that future
infractions may bring about a real execution.
Alternatively, a mock execution can be carried out where both a
"shooter" and a "victim" collaborate with an interrogator who hopes
to coerce a statement out of a subject who is forced to watch. Mock
executions are popular in fiction as easy
suspense can be created by having the
protagonist subjected to what turns out to be
only a mock execution, such as in the
Spike
Lee film
Inside Man, or
V for Vendetta.
Historical instances
- In 1849, several Russian dissidents of Petrashevsky circle, including the
famous writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky
became victims of a now famous case of a mock execution; the pardon
of the Czar was not read to them until the moment when the firing
squad was already aiming their rifles at them. This traumatizing
experience also shows up in Dostoyevsky's literary works.
- Commander Lloyd M.
Bucher, Commander of the USS
Pueblo
, was tortured and put through a mock firing squad
by North
Korean
interrogators in an effort to make him confess; see
[[USS Pueblo (AGER-2)|
USS Pueblo]]. Eventually the Koreans threatened to execute his men
in front of him, and Bucher relented. None of the Koreans knew
English well enough to write the confession, so they had Bucher
write it himself. They verified the meaning of his words, but
failed to catch the pun when he said "We paean the North Korean
state. We paean their great leader Kim Il Sung" ("
We paean" sounds almost identical to "
we
pee on"). Following an apology, a
written admission by the U.S. that
Pueblo had been spying,
and an assurance that the U.S. would not spy in the future, the
North Korean government decided to release the 82 remaining crew
members.
Examples in fiction
- In the Leo Tolstoy novel
War and Peace, Pierre Bezukhov is led to believe that he
has been sentenced to death when Napoleon’s soldiers force him to
watch the execution of Russian captives.
- In the 1987 film The Untouchables, during
a raid on the Canadian border, one of Al
Capone’s bookkeepers agrees to provide Eliot Ness with information after Jim Malone
(Sean Connery) pretends to kill the
bookkeeper’s friend by putting a gun in his mouth and blowing the
back of his head off. The bookkeeper did not know that his friend
was already dead. He witnessed the shooting through a window, and
Malone made the point of saying, “…I won't ask you again. What's
the matter. Can't you talk with a gun in your mouth? One... two...
three...”, to explain why the man was not speaking.
- An episode of the dark comedy series It's Always Sunny in
Philadelphia centers around the main characters being
taken hostage and forced to compete in order to "survive". Near the
end of the episode, they are taken to the roof of their bar and
held at gunpoint. Their captors then drop their shotguns, revealed
to be rubber replicas, and leave the roof, which is a single story
high, via a fire escape.
- In the film To End All
Wars, upon being taken prisoner, British troops are
blindfolded and lined up. The Japanese fire at them but they are
using blanks so no one is killed.
- In both the novel Fight Club
and its film adaptation, mock executions, referred to as "human
sacrifices", are carried out by members of Project Mayhem in order
to evoke a sense of one's "here and now" existence.
- In the TV series, 24,
Jack Bauer gets terrorist Syed Ali to reveal the location of a
nuclear bomb in terrorist hands by carrying out a mock execution of
Ali's son and then threatening to "execute" the rest of his
family.
- In the Simpsons episode
"The Frying Game", Homer is led to
what he believes to be his death, but it turns out to be a reality
television show.
- In The Gods Must Be
Crazy a man is blindfolded and led into a helicopter.
Minutes later he is pushed out the open door, unaware he is only a
few feet above the ground.
- In one of the earliest episodes of the crime-drama series
The Sopranos, a mock execution
is performed on the character Christopher Moltisanti.
- In the 2000 film Traffic, Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez
(Benicio del Toro) is put through a
mock execution in order to gain the trust of General Arturo Salazar
(Tomás Milián).
- In the manga/anime Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and
illustrated by Takeshi Obata, Light Yagami and Misa Amane undergo a
mock execution carried out by Light's father. It was done in order
to negate suspicions that the pair were collectively the serial
killer known as Kira.
References
- Bush lauded for handling of EP-3 incident
WorldNetDaily
- End of North Korea? The Palm Beach Times
- American Civil Liberties Union : U.S. Marines
Engaged in Mock Executions of Iraqi Juveniles and Other Forms of
Abuse, Documents Obtained by ACLU Reveal
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