Iraqi: getting along fine

In a dramatic scene worthy of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, the inmates of the Jadiriya prison in Iraq today denied that they had been in any way, shape or form whatsoever subjected to torture.

At midday, the 170 men were carried out of the prison on stretchers by guards, and set before a group of foreign journalists. In response to the question of whether they had been tortured at Jadiriya, they all shook their heads vehemently from side to side. Asked further as to their reluctance to speak, the inmates opened their mouths, revealing that they did not possess the requisite tongues. Using sign language, their leader then explained cheerfully to the reporters that he and his colleagues were members of a secret Sunni society whose religious beliefs did not permit the possession or use of a tongue, adding that they got along fine without them.

The men were then carried back into the prison while a guard remained behind to make a short statement, which concluded with the words, "Are you satisfied now?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4445724.stm