Definition of Torture
... torture is the deliberate and willful inflictionof various degrees of pain using a number of methods and devices, psychological as well as physical, on a defenseless and powerless person for the purpose of obtaining information that a victim does not wish to reveal or does not have. It is the powerlessness of the victim, the inability to defend herself and her absolute vulnerability to the torturer that captures the specific character of torture.
Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad. Princeton: Princeton University Press Monica Lazreg 2008: 5-6