God's Jury, By Cullen Murphy

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Exploring the lingering influence of the Inquisition, Murphy's lively book may provoke an exasperated grunt when he quotes Delores Umbridge, the Hogwarts inquisitor.

But read on and you'll discover the Spanish Inquisition utilised "toca", a damp cloth intended to "induce the sensation of asphyxiation".

The same technique was used 183 times in a month on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, mastermind of 9/11. The CIA said there were only five "sessions". Similarly, Inquisition interrogators called separate sessions merely "continuance".

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God's Jury, By Cullen Murphy

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