British army accused of 'waterboarding' suspect in 1970s

Evidence is emerging that the British army used waterboarding during interrogations on prisoners in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, according to a report Tuesday. The technique was allegedly used during at least one interrogation of a prisoner who was found guilty in 1973 of murdering a British soldier, a conviction largely based on an unsigned confession, the Guardian said.
The jury did not believe his insistence that he made up the confession only because he had been held down by soldiers who placed a towel over his face and poured water over his nose and mouth to simulate drowning, the newspaper said. The Criminal Cases Review Commission has now referred Liam Holden's case to the Court of Appeal in Belfast after unearthing new evidence, and because of doubts about the "admissibility and reliability" of his confession, it said.