I posted this on another thread, but it didn't really belong. So I decided to make a new thread. I think this is a serious issue. It disturbs me how people brush off certain practices as not being torture, simply because their home countries do not define certain acts as torture.
To me, that's like saying, 'Well, in Chinese and Pakistani law, none of that malpractice by the authorities is forbidden, therefore it's perfectly fine! Besides, the Hutts on Tatooine do far worse to their prisoners, so that completely purges the Chinese and Pakistani authorities of any wrongdoing!'
Note - the above is not meant to start a discussion on China or Pakistan, it's just by way of example.
Anyway:
torture
• noun 1 the infliction of severe pain as a punishment or a forcible means of persuasion. 2 great suffering or anxiety.
• verb subject to torture.
— DERIVATIVES torturer noun.
— ORIGIN Latin tortura ‘twisting, torment’, from torquere ‘to twist’.
Oxford Dictionary Definition
water torture
• noun a form of torture in which the victim is exposed to the incessant dripping of water on the head or to the sound of dripping.
Oxford Dictionary Definition
'Waterboarding is torture - I did it myself,' says US advisor - Independent Online Edition
If merely dripping water on someone's head constitutes torture, I fail to see how pouring water over their face such that they are forced to inhale it does not.