Abstract
Since the destruction of the World Trade Centre in 2001, the United States Government is involved in a "war against terrorism". After the scandals about torture, in Abu Ghraib or in the secret American prisons in Eastern Europe, the international community, especially the Council of Europe, officially disapproved the brutal and dirty methods employed by the American Secret Service in order to fight against terrorism. Since Beccaria, there has been a broad consensus that torture is "barbaric" and "inhuman". These methods are condemned by international laws, especially the article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention which forbids torture and "any other forms of coercion". Nonetheless, in a ticking bomb situation, should torture still be prohibited even if it is aimed at preventing terrorists from inflicting imminent large-scale suffering and loss of human life?
