CIA Report: Waterboarding And Other Techniques

The CIA and US Armed Forces used a series of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" during George W Bush's War on Terror.

The techniques were aimed at extracting information from al Qaeda operatives, often kept in secret overseas prisons.

The New York Times reported in 2009 that the Justice Department released four memos describing 10 techniques used in the interrogation of al Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking terrorist suspected of running an al Qaeda facility in Pakistan.

The techniques are known to have been used in other cases as well. In 2008, the CIA confirmed it had used the controversial waterboarding technique when interrogating three suspects in 2002 and 2003.

As the Senate Intelligence Committee prepares to release a report on the CIA's interrogation programme, here is a look at methods that have emerged so far.

:: Waterboarding

The victim lies on back on inclined platform with feet in air, water is poured into nose and mouth. The lungs do not fill up but the water fills the nose and throat, giving the subject the impression they are drowning.

It causes extreme distress, fear, loss of consciousness. It can also cause lung and brain damage.

:: Stress Positions

Under this method, also known as submission position, the body weight is placed on just one or two muscles. It creates intense amount of pressure and pain on muscles and can lead to muscle failure.

:: Long Time Standing

Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours.

:: Noise Torture

Subjects are exposed to high-volume noise levels. It can cause nausea, disrupts or destroys eardrum.

Interrogators at Guantanamo Bay used songs such as Metallica's Enter Sandman on prisoners.

:: Sleep Deprivation

Victims kept awake for hours under a technique described by European Court of Human Rights as inhumane. It was also used by British military against Irish republican paramilitaries in the 1970s.

:: Sensory Deprivation

Subjects are deprived of sight and sound. The method is believed to have been used by CIA when transporting al Qaeda detainees to secret overseas prisons. Subjects can experience visual and auditory hallucinations.

:: Solitary Confinement

Subjects are imprisoned in solitary cells without human contact or stimulation. Long-term effects include paranoia, insomnia, hallucinations, chronic depression, mood swings and heart palpitations.

Another version of this is the cramped confinement in which the confined space is dark and restricts the individual's movement.

:: Sexual Assault/Humiliation

Sexual violence is recognised as a war crime. It can result in long-term physical and psychological damage. The report documents how at least one detainee was sexually threatened with a broomstick.

:: Cold Rooms

The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept around 10C (50F) and doused with cold water. This technique was reported by ABC.

:: Dietary manipulation

Feeding prisoners food that is "bland" and "unappetising" - if nutritionally sound.

:: Attention Grasp

The interrogator slaps the individual's face with fingers slightly spread.

The purpose of the facial slap is to induce shock, surprise, and/or humiliation.