I Book Review: Why Not Torture Terrorists? Moral, Practical and Legal Aspects of the ‘Ticking Bomb’ Justification of Torture
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411002800410 |
| Published date | 01 December 2010 |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 28/4, 641–663, 2010.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Ri ghts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 641
PART D: DOCUMENTATION
I BOOK REVIEWS
Yuval Ginba r, Why Not Torture Terrorists? Moral, Practical an d Legal Aspects of
the ‘Ticking Bomb’ Justication of Torture, O xford University Press, Oxford, 2008,
414 p., ISBN: 978–0–19–954091–41*
is book addresses a basic issue t hat touches upon core values inherent in principles
of humanity and the rule of law. In response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks
in the United States, many State authoritie s began, individual ly and jointly, to adopt
or intensify a wide gamma of counter-terrorism measures. In the wake of these events
and developments, i n the name of t he ‘war or terror’, policies and practices were
devised and applied th at jeopardised basic human rights standards . In particular, the
absolute prohibition of torture and ot her cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, rmly ensh rined in international hu man rights law and international
humanitaria n law, underwent the eects of erosion. State authorities but also some
leading academic s and commentators argued t hat resort to torture and ill-treatment
of terrorist suspec ts may be just ied to save t he lives of in nocent civil ians. It was
submitted in public discourse and i n policy framing that in the face of the moral
dilemma between two evils, to wit the violation of a non-derogable and imperative
norm by inic ting pain and su ering on a terrorist susp ect on the one hand a nd the
failure to prevent a n imminent human catast rophe involving the loss of numerous
human li ves, the ‘les ser evil’ should prevail. is moral d ilemma is encapsu lated in
what is genera lly understoo d as the ‘ticking bomb scenario’ (TB S). is s cenario,
presented to question and circumvent the absolute prohibition of torture, is dicult to
dene but can be formulated by way of a hypothe sis that an apprehended perpetrator
or an accomplice of an im minent large sca le terrorist attack will only under torture
disclose the informat ion needed to prevent the attack.
While the TBS in the broader sense of contrasting and weighing two evils received
revigorated attention in the context of the globa l wave of counter-terrorism measures
in t he aermath of 9/11, th is scenario has long-term antecedents. us, as is amply
claried in t he present s tudy, it was an implicit and ex plicit assumption in the
interrogation models developed by Israel i authorities vis-à-vis Pales tinian detai nees
well before the launch of the global ‘war on ter ror’. e author of the book under
review, Yuval Ginbar, senior advisor to the Public Com mittee Aga inst Torture in
Israel, developed intimate knowledge of relevant Israeli laws, models, ju risprudence
and pract ices. At the s ame time, w ith his backg round of a legal adviser of A mnesty
* eo van Boven, emer itus professor of internation al law, Maastricht Universit y, the Netherlands.
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