Is Sleep Deprivation Really Torture?

It’s disappointing to see my old and good chum and all-round good egg Iain Martin ask this question. But of course many people doubt, even though both the State Department and the FCO consider sleep deprivation a torture technique, that it really can be so vicious a tactic as to merit that label..

It sounds quite harmless, doesn’t it? A bit like working the night-shift and then having to look after a couple of young kids while your wife goes out to work. Sleep Deprivation? That just means feeling tired, doesn’t it? Same with shackling, eh? That just means being hand-cuffed. And the constant playing of loud music? Hell, my teenage son does that all the time! Is he being tortured? What a lot of fuss about nothing!

Except it is worth a fuss. These things mean something quite different when used as part of a series of interrogation techniques. This is especially so when they are used in combination.