Waterboarding

Some people try out waterboarding at a demonstration against it, in Iceland.

Waterboarding is a type of torture that has been used for a long time. It was often used to make people confess.

The victim is tied onto a table or wooden board. The questioner has a helper, whose job it is to pour water on the victim's nose and mouth through a towel or cloth, to make it difficult for him to breathe. If and when the victim is supplying answers that the questioner deems acceptable, the victim (ideally) is permitted to breathe.

In modern times waterboarding has been in use in Guantanamo Bay and has been a major political argument. Its use by American forces was banned by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Waterboarding Media

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  The Water Torture—Facsimile of a woodcut in J. Damhoudère's Praxis Rerum Criminalium, Antwerp, 1556.

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  1902 Life magazine cover, depicting water curing by U.S. troops in the Philippines

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  Waterboard on display at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: prisoners' feet were shackled to the bar on the right, wrists restrained by shackles on the left. Water was poured over the face using the watering can. The use of this type of waterboard is depicted in a painting by former Tuol Sleng prisoner Vann Nath, shown in that article.

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  Photo from a protest against waterboarding