The involvement of U.S. psychologists and their influence on torture in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq provides previously unrevealed evidence of U.S. torture and military tactical policy, and points to probable military goals the U.S. Administration has denied. What is revealed is that current torture has been designed and used, not so much for interrogation as the Administration and the media ins...

In 2004, Green and Ward pointed out that ‘criminology has largely ignored the crime of torture’ (2004: 125; see also Stanley, 2008). The years following 9/11 included profound developments in the study of torture, namely in response to intensifications in torture debates related to the so-called ‘war on terror’, and in the use of ‘clean’ torture (see Kelly, 2012; Rejali, 2007). Simultaneously, ...

Sir, Contributory torture occurs when the behavior of the offender influences the behavior of the interrogator or, in a broader sense, anyone disciplining the offender. The word contributory is used because if the offender acts up, he/she is part of the reason for the type of punishment he/she receives. For example, if two people are arrested and one follows the directions of the officer and th...

There were over 2000 applications for asylum from Turkish nationals to the UK in 2003. A large proportion of these were person of Kurdish origin, many of whom claimed to have suffered torture. We sought to evaluate the physical and psychological effects of torture in those with physical injuries. A total of 97 Kurdish asylum seekers requiring medical evaluation for evidence of torture were exam...

Five British men were detained and allegedly tortured in Saudi Arabia in 2000 and 2001. Two were sentenced to death and three were sentenced to 12 to 18 years of imprisonment. They received clemency in 2003 and were deported to England. After their homecoming, the men have unsuccessfully attempted to sue Saudi Arabian officials who had been responsible for their false accusations and human righ...

A retrospective study was performed to document the physical and psychological methods of torture and their sequelae on 90 victims of torture who attended the Family Rehabilitation Centres in Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Anuradhapura, using a standard assessment format. The study showed that the methods of torture practised in Sri Lanka are similar to that of other countries. The methods are physi...

AIM To look at the effect of physiotherapy as part of the multidisciplinary treatment of torture victims. METHODS Monitoring of an extended, personally designed, multidisciplinary treatment of 21 torture victims, earlier exposed to both physical and psychological torture, over nine months with assessment of outcome. The physiotherapy comprised elements such as massage, exercise on land, balan...

Acts of torture are conceptualized as crimes of obedience, which are inevitably linked to crimes at higher levels of the hierarchy, where orders are issued, policy is formulated, and the atmosphere conducive to acts of torture is created. The present analysis suggests several conditions under which torture becomes an instrument of State policy and the authority structure of the State is fully u...

The classical concept of PTSD has been criticized for many reasons, including its cultural limitations and negligence of long-lasting changes to personality, which has been documented in cases of chronic interpersonal trauma. The concept of complex PTSD has addressed these shortcomings and specifies ‘‘alterations in selfperception’’ as one of the characteristic changes in functioning following ...