THE dozen men could only mumble. There was neither voice nor word spoken but a small note stuck next to their sweater pocket: a hand-written sentence in broken Indonesian. No one is allowed to open my mouth that has been stitched, the note said.

Seventeen Afghan refugees conducted a very painful procession two weeks ago. One by one, they pricked their lips with a needle making stitches that closed their mouths. There were no more bloodstains on th