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Amnesty shows US interrogation video
A commercial designed to shock viewers with the reality of an interrogation technique used by the United States has been launched.
The first few seconds of Amnesty International's ad leads the audience to believe they are watching a glossy campaign for a mineral water or vodka brand.
But it then becomes clear that a man is being subjected to "waterboarding", which involves partially drowning a prisoner by pouring water down their throat and nose.
Amnesty and other human rights campaigners believe the method is a form of torture, but US authorities describe it as "enhanced interrogation".
The 15-rated film will be seen by cinema-goers from next month.
Amnesty's UK director Kate Allen said: "Our film shows you what the CIA doesn't want you to see - the disgusting reality of half-drowning a person then calling it enhanced interrogation'.
"For a few seconds our film-makers did this for real - they poured water up the nose and into the mouth of someone who was pinned down with his head tilted back.
"Even for those few seconds, it's horrifying to watch - the reality, in a secret prison with no-one to stop it, is much, much worse. "
She added: "Everyone who sees this terrifying film ought to take action to stop it happening in the real world."
Despite growing concern about waterboarding and other techniques, US President George Bush vetoed a bill that would have outlawed such "enhanced interrogation" techniques.
The ad was the joint work of media agency Drugstore and film-makers Marc Hawker and Ishbel Whitaker of DarkFibre films, and features performance artist Jiva Parthipan.
It can be seen at www.unsubscribe-me.org from today and at 50 cinemas nationwide from May 9.
By David Barrett
10:16am Tuesday 22nd April 2008
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