Bastinado

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Bastinado was originally a Spanish word for the act of caning, in the literal sense of beating with a stick or similar implement. It is specifically used to refer to a form of torture or corporal punishment which consists of beating the soles of the offender's bare feet with a hard object, like a cane or rod, a club, a piece of wood, or a whip.

This torture is effective due to the clustering of nerve endings in the feet and the structure of the foot, with its numerous small bones and tendons. The feet were often tied together or to a wooden plank (called falaka in Persian, possibly the origin of the tradition in the Near East) and the victim would be made to walk around on his or her damaged feet afterwards, sometimes carrying weights. The wounds inflicted are particularly painful and take a long time to heal, rendering it a redoubtable deterrent but impractical as punishment for subordinates. Some point out that the prominent display of the offender's bare feet contains an element of punitive humiliation as well. This is especially true in Arabic cultures, where it is considered humiliating to bare the soles of one's feet.

This punishment has, at various times, been used in China, as well as the Middle East where it is known by the Arabic word falaqa and its Turkish form, falaka, as it was used throughout the Ottoman Empire (including the Balkans).^{[citation needed]} Bastinado had been, until recently, utilized as a form of corporal punishment in schools in the Middle East.[1] It was convenient in that it could be employed on both male and female students in lieu of other forms of punishment which would be inappropriate for female students (such as caning of the behind). Bastinado employed on students was not as harsh the kind employed on adults, in that only a long ruler was used to firmly slap the soles of the feet, delivering a slightly less agonising blow but sufficient to cause significant pain.

[edit] Bastinado in history

The late Uday Hussein, a leader of Iraq's now-fallen Ba'ath Party regime and son of Saddam Hussein, is alleged to have used this method of torture on Olympic athletes who did not perform according to standards.
The bastinado was used at the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and is mentioned in the ten regulations to prisoners now on display in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

[edit] Bastinado in popular culture

In act V, scene I of William Shakespeare's play, As You Like It, Touchstone threatens William with the line: "I will deal in poison with thee, or in bastinado, or in steel..."
In act I, scene X of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Osmin threatens Belmonte and Pedrillo with the bastinado: "Sonst soll die Bastonade Euch gleich zu Diensten stehn."
Included in a scene set in Egypt, in Mark Twain's 1869 novel The Innocents Abroad (illustrated link).
Bastinado became well known to the Western public because of the 1978 movie Midnight Express.
Bastinado is a form of punishment for women in Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale.
In the 1994 film Quiz Show, Charles van Doren - whilst imagining what tortures the US Senate might inflict on him - suggests bastinado, along with the rack and the iron maiden.
In a 2002 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Principal Robin Wood, after mentioning the bastinado, says, "No one ever knows what that thing is." Without hesitating, Buffy responds, "A wooden rod used to slap the soles of the feet in Turkish prisons, but, if made with the correct wood, makes an awesome Billy club." (7.2 - "Beneath You")
Bastinado is the name of a rock band from Portland, Oregon.
In the TV series Bones, Dr Brennan notes that Agent Booth had been subjected to beatings on the bottom of his feet as a POW.
The definition of bastinado given by Ambrose Bierce in The Devil's Dictionary is: Bastinado, n. The act of walking on wood without exertion.
In the Mario Puzo novel The Sicilian, peasants of the town of Montelepre were often threatened by the national police or carabinieri with threats of bastinado beatings.
In Orhan Pamuk's novel My name is Red, 38th chapter "I, master Osman".
In the Ward Just novel Forgetfulness (2006), a bastinado is used in interrogation of suspected Moroccan murderers/terrorists.
In Criminal Minds, Episode 215 "Revelations", Dr. Spencer Reid has the sole of his foot beaten as a form of punishment for perceived sins.