Ta’aliq — “to hang” in Arabic — is Iraqi slang for the torture device that hoists victims into the air, their hands handcuffed above their heads. Akrab, or “scorpion,” is the more painful version, when the hands are first forced together behind the back.
Elizabeth Tsurkov experienced both, and other excruciating torture, during 2 1/2 years held captive in Iraq by an Iranian-backed militia.
