How does waterboarding simulated drowning

Waterboarding is recognized as a method of torture by the European Court of Human Rights 5,6 , the UN Committee against Torture 7 , and is now explicitly prohibited by US military regulations 8. Waterboarding was consequently used on suspected terrorists captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was practiced in US military prisons as well as in other countries and overseen by US staff and sometimes monitored by US military doctors The use of waterboarding has also been documented in Argentina, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Peru, Syria, Uganda, Uruguay, and likely occurs in many more countries across the world 12— Waterboarding and its variants are an example of a physical torture method that produces immediate physical and mental suffering and leads to major psychological distress.

Physical consequences: The inhalation of water may cause the victims to drown or almost drown. Drowning is a complex process involving halting breath, struggling, physical exhaustion, rising carbon dioxide levels, the inhalation and intake of liquid, coughing, vomiting, loss of consciousness, respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.

Physical consequences of waterboarding include Hypothermia reduced body temperature , Aspiration pneumonia lung infection , Laryngospasm sudden spasm of the vocal cords which disables speech and breath , incontinence, memory deficits, epilepsy, acute brain damage, and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases 2, Psychological consequences: The experience of drowning has been described as one of the most traumatic experiences a human being can endure Waterboarding often leads to shock, confusion, distrust, lack of sleep, mental exhaustion, and isolation 12, Waterboarding is a form of torture by wet asphyxiation with severe physical and psychological consequences.

There is a need for comprehensive training of medical and judicial professionals to expand awareness and understanding of waterboarding as a torture method, and to train medical staff in treatment of the torture victims.

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Download this fact sheet as PDF in Arabic. The left forearm is set on the back, close to the right hip. In this way, the hands can be placed near to each other, with a padlock that binds the two ropes white arrows. In B the padlock and the nylon ropes can be closely observed. In A the rest of the nylon rope 3 , on the floor of the bedroom. The family members were interviewed by the police.

They reported that the victim did not suffer from psychiatric diseases or socio-economic difficulties. A suicidal letter was not left by the victim. The prosecutor ordered a judicial autopsy at the Milan Institute of Legal Medicine 36 h after the on-site judicial investigation. Prior to autopsy examination, face, neck, wrists, hands, and external genitalia were swabbed in order to avoid any contaminations.

Also, the free margin of the nails, the nylon ropes, the padlock, and the canvas bag were collected for a subsequent forensic genetic analysis, which was requested by the prosecutor. External examination indicated that the body was in good state of preservation weight 70 kg, length cm , with rigor mortis presented both at the neck, upper, and the lower limbs the corpse was refrigerated.

Intense post-mortem lividity was present on the back and fixed; furthermore, there were no conjunctival petechial hemorrhages. A current mark was not documented on the body. At autopsy, the body did neither show blunt force injuries nor defensive wounds. In particular, the upper limbs did not show any injuries. The hyoid bone and both the laryngeal superior cornua were undamaged.

A pinkish frothy fluid was observed in the trachea and the main bronchi, but no foam was present in his mouth or his nostrils.

The surface was pale and crepitant, with subpleural petechiae. The pulmonary parenchyma was waterlogged, with some areas of intrapulmonary bleedings. Furthermore, a lot of red-tinged frothy fluid exuded from the bronchi on the cut section. Upon autopsy, bilateral hemorrhages within the petrous temporal bones were observed.

About 50 cc of brownish fluid material were found in the stomach, without any food traces. The heart, the abdominal viscera, and the pelvis did not show any gross lesions, and nothing else was observed upon autopsy. Viscera specimens the brain, lungs, liver, kidneys , biological fluids femoral and cardiac blood, bile, urine, and gastric content , hair, and nasal swabs were sampled for subsequent toxicological analyses.

Samples of the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, spleen, and kidneys were also collected for histopathologic examination. A specimen of psoas muscle was also sampled for forensic genetic analysis.

All the analyses were authorized by the prosecutor. Toxicological analyses were performed in accordance with the protocols adopted in the Milan Institute of Legal Medicine.

Alcohol concentrations were analyzed by gas chromatography GC in specimens of femoral blood, gastric content, and the brain: all of them resulted to be negative. Specimens of urine and cardiac blood, tested by ELISA immunoassay, were analyzed for illicit psychotropic drugs, which were negative. In addition, no medicinal drugs and non-volatile toxic substances were found in urine, cardiac blood, or bile, which were analyzed by GC and liquid chromatography LC. Finally, no drugs were detected in hair sample and nasal swabs.

Samples of the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, spleen, and kidneys underwent standard post-fixative histopathologic examination. Histologic slides of the brain, stomach, and kidneys showed post-mortem autolytic changes. Slides of the heart revealed wavy myocardial fibers, with a moderate fibrosis of the interstitium space. The spleen showed hyperemia, while the liver showed microvesicular steatosis.

The pulmonary parenchyma showed a massive edema, with some areas of acute emphysema and hemorrhagic foci Fig. This latter morphological pattern can be defined as emphysema aquosum , since the edema fluid in the bronchi blocks the passive collapse that normally occurs at death, holding the lungs in the inspiratory position.

The other organs did not show any abnormalities. Histopathologic slides of the lungs. Finally, the cause of death was identified as an asphyxiation by drowning in combination with direct suffocation caused by the soaked canvas bag, in the context of waterboarding practice.

Toxic substances and natural diseases were not documented. To the best of our knowledge, waterboarding has never been used to commit suicides or homicides, but only for torturing prisoners. Therefore, waterboarding has been practiced for centuries.

As a method of torture, waterboarding became illegal under the law of war with the adoption of the third Geneva Convention of , which required that war prisoners had to be treated humanely, and the third and fourth Geneva Conventions of , which explicitly prohibited the torture and cruel treatments of war prisoners and civilians [ 8 ].

In the case presented, the possibility of a waterboarding fatality occurred in the bathtub was based on several data.

In particular, the victim was found completely naked in the bathtub, and the hands were firmly tied with two nylon ropes and bound with a padlock. The head was covered by a soaked canvas bag, held around the neck by a nylon rope, and reached by the water jet coming from the showerhead, which was specifically inclined to the head.

The external examination did not show any injuries. In particular, signs related to blunt force injuries were not documented. Furthermore, defensive cut wounds typically involving the upper limbs [ 5 , 6 ] were not observed.

On a closer examination, the neck, the thorax, and the abdomen were free from any injuries as well as his head and his back, which are frequently involved in the event of an assault [ 7 , 11 ]. At autopsy, the neck structures were also completely undamaged, without any hemorrhagic infiltration of the muscles. Signs related to struggle or attempted immobilization were therefore ruled out. Schmidt and Madea [ 12 ] reported indeed that homicides committed in the bathtub or a mere deposition of the victim of a homicide in the bath is very rare events.

Thus, they documented 11 homicides among bathtub fatalities, in a retrospective study. In particular, 5 victims were strangulated, 4 were stabbed, and 2 showed pathological findings of asphyxiation by drowning in combination with severe miscellaneous blunt force violence, such as contusions of the skull, and hemorrhages in the soft tissues of the back and the arms.

Ten victims were female, while the only male victim showed abrasions, contusions, and lacerations of the skull, with 98 stab wounds. The ages of the deceased ranged 13—63 years, and the age group 20—40 years accounted for most of the fatalities. In the case presented, toxicological analyses were all negative in reference to drugs and illicit substances.

Toxicological investigations help forensic pathologists to establish whether the victim had taken medications, alcohol, or illicit drugs, which may alter the psycho-physical abilities of a healthy man, facilitating direct physical violence [ 13 , 14 ] and mechanical asphyxiation [ 15 ] e.

Dozens of drugs including ethanol can be used in DFSA. In this concern, the analysis of multiple matrices is advisable to obtain complementary information, differentiating endogenous production from exogenous administration [ 17 , 18 ]. In addition, the police examined the security camera footage recorded in the apartment building where the victim lived. No suspicious activities were reported in the time period included within the estimation of the time of death.

These findings were therefore highly suggestive of a suicidal WB fatality. The police also tried to reproduce the complex binding system of the victim. According to the police, the victim may have tied his wrists and his hands with the nylon ropes. Then, he may have put the canvas bag on his head; after that, he probably has fastened the canvas bag with the nylon rope. Finally, he might have bound with a padlock the two ropes, which were previously fastened all-around each hand, and opened the mixer tap of the shower with a knee or a foot.

Mitchell used the technique on at least three men, including Mohammed. This week, he testified that he would do it again if he believed he had to, but also said that the results repulsed him.

He was waterboarded 83 times over a handful of sessions in August , according to an investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. After Abu Zubaydah started cooperating with interrogators at a secret prison in Thailand in , Mitchell and Jessen sought to stop using the waterboard. Officers at CIA headquarters in Virginia accused the two of having lost their nerve. The psychologists performed what Mitchell said was a dialed-back version of the technique.

His description of himself as playing a role to limit the use of the program is confounding, especially because he went on to waterboard two more men, including Mohammed, who was waterboarded times. He testified that waterboarding was a step in a process; he urged the end of it for Abu Zubaydah because it had served its purpose.

Abu Zubaydah was cooperating, he said, and might cease to cooperate if it were resumed. He later attempted to stop what he regarded as rogue interrogation techniques at another so-called black site in Afghanistan, he said.

He confronted an interrogator there and later reported him to CIA headquarters. He was an ask-forgiveness kind of guy. Mitchell during two days of testimony has repeated several claims that his interrogation techniques produced actionable intelligence. Some of those claims are contradicted by other research.

Binalshibh was captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in after he and Mohammed granted an interview to Al Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda, who disclosed their location to his bosses.

The CIA and Pakistani security officials used the information and other tips on the ground to identify several possible apartments. They raided them that September. Mohammed was gone, but Bin Shibh was captured after an hours-long gun battle.