13 his duties in Zimbabwe, where further allegations have been made about his involvement in torture.33 Redress report34 “A victim seen by REDRESS alleged that in 2002 at Harare Central he was beaten with a wooden pole in the presence of Dowa and then, after his hands were handcuffed behind his back, an electrical wire was attached behind his ear and he was subjected to repeated electric shocks ranging from ten seconds to about a minute. This torture continued for several hours during which time Dowa and others screamed questions and accusations at him. Between shocks he was kicked, slapped and punched. He was also beaten on the soles of his bare feet with batons. Medical reports compiled soon after the torture confirmed that all his injuries were consistent with what the victim described.” It may also be that falanga was actually uncommon up to 2000. However, the absence of reported cases may also be attributable to lack of awareness on the part of human rights groups about the phenomenon of falanga and how to detect it. Since 2000 though, there has been a large increase proportionately in the number of falanga cases reported. In its report on the legal cases handled by the Human Rights Forum, it was found that in 35 cases of falanga the victims had gone to court to seek civil damages. 35 This was 12% of the total, and represented a significant increase from previous reports. Table 1 Involvement in falanga. Source: Human Rights Forum [Legal cases data base] ZRP[Uniformed branch] ZRP[CID] ZRP[PISI] ZRP[Riot Squad] ZRP[Support Unit] Army CIO 33 34 35 *36 Falanga reported [n=35] 60% 43% 0 19% 0 8% 0 See Redress (2004), The Case of Henry Dowa: The United Nations and Zimbabwe under the spotlight, January 2004, LONDON: REDRESS TRUST. See page 4 in Redress (2004), The Case of Henry Dowa: The United Nations and Zimbabwe under the spotlight, January 2004, LONDON: REDRESS TRUST. See again Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2006), An Analysis of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Legal Cases, 1998–2006. Published by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. June 2006, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM. 36 The percentages exceed 100 as, for each case reported, there may have been more than one branch of the ZRP involved. Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. Only bruises on the soles of their feet. The use of Falanga by the Zimbabwe Republic Police.