I.

Introduction

Torture, the infliction of bodily pain or mental suffering either as punishment, to compel a person to confess to a crime or provide information, or to intimidate, coerce, discriminate against, or repress a person or group of people for political purposes. The methods of torture and the reasons for it have varied throughout history. The word torture comes from the Latin term tortus, which means “to twist.”

Throughout history, the extreme measure of torture has often been reserved, even in societies condoning it, for offenses of the highest ideological order, where the offender is perceived as threatening the society’s basic beliefs.

Although torture has been documented throughout much of human history and prohibited by law in many countries, it was not addressed explicitly by international law until the modern human rights movement began following World War II (1939-1945). This movement was born in reaction to crimes against humanity carried out by Nazi Germany and Japan.

Some historians believe torture was carried out more widely in the 20th century than at any other time in human history. And torture continues to be practiced. In the early part of the 21st century, for example, members of U.S. military and intelligence agencies reportedly used methods of torture in Afghanistan and Iraq, and at the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In spite of an absolute prohibition against torture under international law, some efforts have been made to justify torture as an appropriate method for combating terrorism.