Difference between revisions of "Torture"
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| + | The term torture refers to punishments which inflict severe pain or mutilation on prisoners. Governments, armies and tyrants have inflicted torture on opponents throughout recorded history, chiefly against [[slave]]s and [[rebel]]s, but also against political or religious dissidents. | ||
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| + | In the West, the best known cases of torture were inflicted by ecclesiastical and political authorities during the Middle Ages. A well-known example from historical fiction occurs in ''[[Ivanhoe]]''. | ||
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| + | In the 20th century, opposition to torture on [[human rights]] grounds began, yet torture persists in countries as diverse as [[China]] and [[Sudan]]. <!-- too grisly and disgusting to mention here, but go read The Epoch Times for China. I might talk about ants and hamstringing in the Sudan article. Ed Poor. --> | ||
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The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment defines torture as: | The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment defines torture as: | ||
Revision as of 14:01, March 29, 2007
The term torture refers to punishments which inflict severe pain or mutilation on prisoners. Governments, armies and tyrants have inflicted torture on opponents throughout recorded history, chiefly against slaves and rebels, but also against political or religious dissidents.
In the West, the best known cases of torture were inflicted by ecclesiastical and political authorities during the Middle Ages. A well-known example from historical fiction occurs in Ivanhoe.
In the 20th century, opposition to torture on human rights grounds began, yet torture persists in countries as diverse as China and Sudan.
The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment defines torture as:
"...any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions."[1]
Torture is widely practised in many countries throughout the world as a means of intimidating the ruling regime's opponents. Since 1997, incidences of torture or ill treatment by the police have been reported in over 140 different countries.[2] By far most commonly reported method of torture is physical beatings - other commonly reported methods include:[3]
- Rape and sexual abuse in custody
- Mock execution or threat of death
- Prolonged solitary confinement
- Electric shocks
- Suspension of the body
- Suffocation
The US has been accused of using torture, such as waterboarding [4], as an interrogation method at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp[5] [6] [7] and also kidnapping people of Middle Eastern descent in a process known as extraordinary rendition.
The US maintains that its coercive interrogation techniques are not "torture" (see McCain Amendment).
References
1. Article 1, http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/apro/aproweb.nsf/pages/knowTortureDefinition
2. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/apro/aproweb.nsf/pages/knowTortureContext
3. http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/apro/aproweb.nsf/pages/knowTortureMethods
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,1981955,00.html