Abstract
The word "terrorism" appeared during the French Revolution and was associated with the Reign of Terror. Since Antiquity, human beings have used torture to extract information. However, an "organ of political authority" may also adopt a "policy of torture" to control and terrorize any given society. Therefore, the use of torture as an instrument of political terror, could be defined as an "inflection of physical or mental pain, or both, as a political act implemented with the consent or tolerance of the state or of another organ of political authority as a part of a national or community policy to respond to real or perceived internal threats". According to Amnesty International, 75% of the world's governments have used this kind of violence between 1997 and mid-2000. The question that arises is, why did/do past/current "organs of political authority" want to terrorize any society or people groups using torture? Firstly, the use of torture as political terror by some governments appears as an authoritarian method of governing. Secondly, some democratic regimes could use this political apparatus to face the rise of terrorism or to protect their national territory and their population in the international context.
