Reality TV turns to torture
2005-02-09 12:27
London - A group of volunteers have been locked up in cages and sexually humiliated in a British reality show that seeks to explore the use of torture by recreating conditions inside the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.
The four-part series on Channel 4 asks whether torture methods applied at the notorious United States navy base in Cuba and other prisons in places such as Iraq and the US can be justified in efforts to combat terrorism, a spokesperson for the station said.
"The information gained through torture has been justified as the centre of the war against terrorism," said the spokesperson, who asked to remain anonymous.
"We want the viewers to watch techniques that we know are used at Guantanamo and really to raise questions about whether torture is justified and if it works and what does it say about our values as a western society."
For the Guantanamo Guidebook, part of a series due to be broadcast from the end of February, seven men - three Muslims and four white Britons - were locked up in a makeshift detention centre at a warehouse in east London.
Two of the seven failed to last the course
Over a period of 48 hours, US interrogation experts subjected them to a range of torture techniques known to be used at the notorious Cuba prison.
Two of the seven failed to last the course, with one choosing to pull out and the other being forced to quit due to hypothermia, the spokesperson said.
Before embarking on the ordeal, the seven offered their opinions on torture and its justification, with some openly supporting the US methods used at Guantanamo, where over 500 detainees have been held for two-and-a-half years.
The show is designed to "examine if torture is justified to combat the threat faced from terrorists such as Al-Qaeda," the Channel 4 spokesperson said.
"At the end of it, we see what the volunteers now think about torture and the use of torture," he added.
On Monday, a Washington-based lawyer said that several Kuwaitis being held at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of terrorist activities were tortured into making false confessions.