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{{Short description|Group of interrogation methods developed by the United Kingdom}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

The '''five techniques''', also known as '''deep interrogation''', are a group of interrogation methods developed by the United Kingdom during the 20th century and are currently regarded as a form of [[torture]]. Originally developed by British forces in a variety of 20th-century conflicts, they are most notable for being applied to detainees in Northern Ireland during [[the Troubles]]. The five collective methods are [[Stress position|prolonged wall-standing]], [[hooding]], [[Sensory overload|subjection to noise]], [[Sleep deprivation|deprivation of sleep]], and [[Starvation|deprivation of food and drink]].{{sfn|Lauterpacht|Greenwood|1980|p=198}}

They were first used in Northern Ireland in 1971 as part of [[Operation Demetrius]] – the mass arrest and [[internment]] of people ostensibly suspected of involvement with the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA). Out of those arrested, fourteen were selected not for any suspected involvement but purely on the basis of physical condition and subjected to a programme of "deep interrogation" using the five techniques. This took place at [[Shackleton Barracks]], a secret interrogation centre in Northern Ireland. For seven days, when not being interrogated, the detainees were kept [[hooding|hooded]] and handcuffed in a cold cell and subjected to a continuous loud hissing noise. Here they were forced to stand in a [[stress position]] for many hours and were deprived of sleep, food, and drink. They were also repeatedly beaten, and some reported being kicked in the genitals, having their heads banged against walls, and being threatened with injections. The effect was prolonged pain, physical and mental exhaustion, severe anxiety, depression, hallucinations, disorientation, and repeated loss of consciousness.<ref name=mcguffin4>[http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guineapigs.htm ''The Guineapigs''] by John McGuffin (1974, 1981). [http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guinea4.htm Chapter 4: "The Experiment"].</ref><ref name=mcguffin6>[http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guineapigs.htm ''The Guineapigs''] by John McGuffin (1974, 1981). [http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guinea6.htm Chapter 6: "Replay"].</ref> It also resulted in long-term [[psychological trauma]]. The fourteen became known as "the Hooded Men" and were the only detainees in Northern Ireland subjected to all five techniques together. Other detainees were subjected to at least one of the five techniques along with other interrogation methods.<ref name=mcguffin9>[http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guineapigs.htm ''The Guineapigs''] by John McGuffin (1974, 1981). [http://www.irishresistancebooks.com/guineapigs/guinea9.htm Chapter 9: "Down on the Killing Floor"].</ref>

In 1976, the [[European Commission of Human Rights]] ruled that the five techniques amounted to [[torture]]. The case was then referred to the [[European Court of Human Rights]]. In 1978, the court ruled that the techniques were "[[inhuman and degrading]]" and breached [[Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights|Article 3]] of the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] but did not amount to torture. In 2014, after new information was uncovered that showed the decision to use the five techniques in Northern Ireland in 1971–1972 had been taken by ministers,<ref>{{cite news | title=British ministers sanctioned torture of NI internees | newspaper=The Irish Times | date=21 March 2013 | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/british-ministers-sanctioned-torture-of-ni-internees-1.1820882 | access-date=30 May 2019}}</ref> the [[Government of Ireland|Irish Government]] asked the European Court of Human Rights to review its judgement. In 2018, the Court declined.

The Court's ruling that the five techniques did not amount to torture was later internally cited by the United States to justify its own interrogation methods,<ref>[http://www.caj.org.uk/contents/1264 "The Hooded Men – joint press release from CAJ and the Pat Finucane Centre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322042506/http://www.caj.org.uk/contents/1264 |date=22 March 2016 }}. [[Committee on the Administration of Justice]]. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.</ref> which included the five techniques.<ref name=papertrail>[https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/belfast-and-beyond/paper-trail-northern-ireland%E2%80%99s-hooded-men-cia%E2%80%99s-global-torture "Paper trail: from Northern Ireland's hooded men to CIA's global torture"]. [[Amnesty International]]. 9 December 2014. Quote: "Within months, the CIA was using the "five techniques" in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world."</ref> British agents also taught the five techniques to the forces of [[Brazilian military government|Brazil's military dictatorship]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27625540 "How the UK taught Brazil's dictators interrogation techniques"]. BBC News. 30 May 2014.</ref>

During the [[Iraq War]], the illegal use of the five techniques by [[British Armed Forces|British service members]] contributed to the [[death of Baha Mousa]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14825889 "Baha Mousa inquiry: 'Serious discipline breach' by army"]. BBC News. 8 September 2011.</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8749250/Baha-Mousa-inquiry-innocent-father-died-due-to-Armys-failings.html "Baha Mousa inquiry: innocent father died due to Army's failings"]. ''The Telegraph''. 8 September 2011.</ref>

In 2021, the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom]] found that the use of the five techniques amounts to torture.<ref>[https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2020-0019-judgment.pdf "Judgement – In the matter of an application by Margaret McQuillan for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) (Nos 1, 2 and 3) In the matter of an application by Francis McGuigan for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) (Nos 1, 2 and 3) In the matter of an application by Mary McKenna for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) (Nos 1 and 2)" para. 186-188]</ref>

==Parker Report==<!-- [[Parker Report (1972)]] redirects to this section heading if this is changed please change the redirect-->
In response to the public and Parliamentary disquiet on 16 November 1971, the Government commissioned a committee of inquiry chaired by [[Hubert Parker, Baron Parker of Waddington|Lord Parker]], the [[Lord Chief Justice of England]] to look into the legal and moral aspects of the use of the five techniques.

The "Parker Report"<ref>{{Citation |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/hmso/parker.htm |title=Report of the committee of Privy Counsellors appointed to consider authorised procedures for the interrogation of persons suspected of terrorism|access-date=30 December 2012}} held at [[CAIN]] part of [[Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive|ARK]] in collaboration with [[Queen's University Belfast]] and [[University of Ulster]]</ref> was published on 2 March 1972, and had found the five techniques to be illegal under domestic law:
{{blockquote|10.  Domestic Law ...(c) We have received both written and oral representations from many legal bodies and individual lawyers from both England and Northern Ireland. There has been no dissent from the view that the procedures are illegal alike by the law of England and the law of Northern Ireland. ... (d) This being so, no Army Directive and no Minister could lawfully or validly have authorised the use of the procedures. Only Parliament can alter the law. The procedures were and are illegal.}}

On the same day (2 March 1972), the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom Prime Minister]] [[Edward Heath]] stated in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]:
{{blockquote|[The] Government, having reviewed the whole matter with great care and with reference to any future operations, have decided that the techniques ... will not be used in future as an aid to interrogation... The statement that I have made covers all future circumstances.}}
Directives expressly prohibiting the use of the techniques, whether singly or in combination, were then issued to the security forces by the Government.{{sfn|Lauterpacht|Greenwood|1980|p=241}} These are still in force and the use of such methods by UK security forces would not be condoned by the Government.

==European Commission of Human Rights inquiries and findings==

The [[Government of Ireland|Irish Government]], on behalf of the men who had been subject to the five methods, took a case to the
[[European Commission on Human Rights]].<ref name="IrlUK">{{Citation|url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/intlhr/chapter19.doc |chapter=Ireland v United Kingdom 1976 |title=Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights |pages= 512, 748, 788–94 |location=Strasbourg |publisher=European Commission on Human Rights |access-date=30 December 2012}}</ref> The Commission stated that it
"considered the combined use of the five methods to amount to torture, on the grounds that (1) the intensity of the stress caused by techniques creating sensory deprivation "directly affects the personality physically and mentally"; and (2) "the systematic application of the techniques for the purpose of inducing a person to give information shows a clear resemblance to those methods of systematic torture which have been known over the ages... a modern system of torture falling into the same category as those systems... applied in previous times as a means of obtaining information and confessions".<ref name="IrlUK"/><ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/detainees/prohibits_torture.htm |title=Security Detainees/Enemy Combatants: US Law Prohibits Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment |page=Footnote 16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051120013416/http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/detainees/prohibits_torture.htm |archive-date=20 November 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |first=David |last=Weissbrodt |url=http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/intlhr/chapter19.doc |title=materials on torture and other ill-treatment: 3. European Court of Human Rights|access-date=30 December 2012}}</ref>

==European Court of Human Rights trial ''Ireland v. the United Kingdom''== <!--!Ireland v. United Kingdom (1978)]] redirects to this section heading-->

The commission's findings were appealed. In 1978, in the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR) trial ''Ireland v. United Kingdom'' (5310/71) [1978] ECHR 1, the facts were not in dispute and the judges court published the following in their judgement:
{{blockquote|These methods, sometimes termed "disorientation" or "[[sensory deprivation]]" techniques, were not used in any cases other than the fourteen so indicated above. It emerges from the [[European Commission of Human Rights|Commission's]] establishment of the facts that the techniques consisted of:{{ordered list|type=lower-alpha
| wall-standing: forcing the detainees to remain for periods of some hours in a "stress position", described by those who underwent it as being "spreadeagled against the wall, with their fingers put high above the head against the wall, the legs spread apart and the feet back, causing them to stand on their toes with the weight of the body mainly on the fingers";
| hooding: putting a black or navy coloured bag over the detainees' heads and, at least initially, keeping it there all the time except during interrogation;
| subjection to noise: pending their interrogations, holding the detainees in a room where there was a continuous loud and hissing noise;
| deprivation of sleep: pending their interrogations, depriving the detainees of sleep;
| deprivation of food and drink: subjecting the detainees to a reduced diet during their stay at the centre and pending interrogations.<ref name="Ireland.v. UK-96">{{Citation |url=http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=695383&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 |title=Ireland v. the United Kingdom 28 October 2016}} Paragraph 96</ref>}}}}

These were referred to by the court as the '''five techniques'''. The court ruled:
{{blockquote|
{{ordered list| start=167
| ... Although the five techniques, as applied in combination, undoubtedly amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment, although their object was the extraction of confessions, the naming of others and/or information and although they were used systematically, '''they did not occasion suffering of the particular intensity and cruelty implied by the word torture''' as so understood. ...
|  The Court concludes that recourse to the five techniques '''amounted to a practice of inhuman and degrading treatment''', which practice was in breach of [the [[European Convention on Human Rights]]] [[European Convention on Human Rights#Article 3 – torture|Article 3 (art. 3)]].<ref name="Ireland.v.UK-167-168">{{Citation |url=http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=695383&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 |title=Ireland v. the United Kingdom}} Paragraphs 167 and 168</ref>}}}}

On 8 February 1977, in proceedings before the ECHR, and in line with the findings of the Parker report and United Kingdom Government policy, [[Samuel Silkin]], the [[Attorney General for England and Wales]] and [[Attorney General for Northern Ireland]], stated that 
{{blockquote|The Government of the United Kingdom have considered the question of the use of the 'five techniques' with very great care and with particular regard to Article 3 (art. 3) of the Convention.  They now give this unqualified undertaking, that the 'five techniques' will not in any circumstances be reintroduced as an aid to interrogation.<ref name="Ireland.v.UK-102">{{Citation |url=http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=695383&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 |title=Ireland v. the United Kingdom}} Paragraph 102</ref>}}

==Irish Government application to re-open case==
On 2 December 2014, the [[Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade]] [[Charles Flanagan]] announced that the Irish Government had asked European Court of Human Rights to revise its judgment<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dfa.ie/news-and-media/press-releases/press-release-archive/2014/december/hooded-men-case-northern-ireland/|title=Statement on 'Hooded Men' case – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade|last=Affairs|first=Department of Foreign|website=dfa.ie|access-date=2016-11-09}}</ref> following evidence uncovered by an [[RTÉ]] documentary called ''The Torture Files''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/player/prime-time/2014/0604/|title=Prime Time Web: RTÉ Investigations Unit: The Torture Files|publisher=RTÉ|access-date=2016-11-09}}</ref>

In 2018, the European Court of Human Rights decided not to revise its judgment by six votes to one.<ref>[http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-181585 ECtHR revision judgment on application No. 5310/71]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sensory deprivation]]
* {{section link|Use of torture since 1948#United Kingdom}}

==References==
*{{Citation |url=http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=open&documentId=822914&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 |title=Ireland v. United Kingdom – Commission report}}
*{{Citation |url=http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-57506|title=Ireland v. United Kingdom – ECHR Grand Chamber judgment}}
*{{Citation |last1=Lauterpacht |first1 = Elihu |first2=C. J. |last2=Greenwood  |date = 1980 |title=International Law Reports  |publisher=Cambridge UP|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PqPo03h_FrIC&pg=PA198 198], [https://books.google.com/books?id=PqPo03h_FrIC&pg=PA241 241] |isbn = 978-0-521-46403-1}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last1=Cavanaugh |first1=Kathleen |title=On Torture: The Case of the "Hooded Men" |journal=Human Rights Quarterly |date=2020 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=519–544 |doi=10.1353/hrq.2020.0031|s2cid=226484911 }}
{{The Troubles}}

[[Category:Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights]]
[[Category:European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:European Court of Human Rights cases involving Ireland]]
[[Category:European Court of Human Rights interstate cases]]
[[Category:The Troubles (Northern Ireland)]]
[[Category:Imprisonment and detention]]
[[Category:Physical torture techniques| ]]
[[Category:Psychological torture techniques| ]]
[[Category:Interrogation techniques|*]]
[[Category:Police misconduct in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Torture in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1970s in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Torture in the Iraq War]]
[[Category:Iraq War crimes by the United Kingdom]]