ABSTRACT

The public execution is to be understood not only as a judicial, but also as a political ritual. It belongs, even in minor cases, to the ceremonies by which power is manifested.

Michel Foucault

Death is the sanction of everything that the storyteller can tell. Walter Benjamin

Prologue

Inside that imposing red-brick building of the colonial era, the convict of our story was the centre of attention. After a long haul of solitary confinement for nearly fourteen years, it was his last night within the high security cell. As a precautionary measure, the cell was kept under continuous surveillance and was closely monitored by the officials and medical staff of the prison. What surprised or even puzzled these veteran officials was the convict's serenity, bordering on indifference, during his final hours. His placid face hardly betrayed any horror or panic. Instead, he wanted to have a shave and new clothes before the execution, presumably for a fresh look during the occasion. The lone sign of any agitation that the medical o1Ticer noted during the night was the convict's acute sleeping disorder or insomnia-in spite of their best elTorts, the prison o1Ticials were unable to get him to sleep.