Responding to comments made by the US President Donald Trump in a televsion interview last night where he said he "believes" waterboarding "works", Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

“While he’s said this sort of thing before, it’s still extremely disturbing that we now have a new president of the United States of America who says he believes waterboarding torture works.

“Apart from the absolute horror of half-drowning terrified people who may have been subjected to a whole range of other abuse, there’s no evidence that torture is in any way effective. Quite the opposite - people will say anything to make the pain stop.

“We need to think of the appalling example that the USA would be setting if it went back to torturing people in secret ‘black site’ detention facilities. Intelligence services around the world with a record of torturing people would be newly emboldened.

“During her meeting in Washington, Theresa May mustn’t flinch from telling the president some basic truths about the complete unacceptability of authorising a return to the use of waterboarding and other torture, or indeed of keeping Guantánamo open.”

For more on this issue, including Amnesty's response to the 2014 US Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's use of torture during the "war opn terror", go here, here and here.