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Twenty-first century torture: women's hands, beaten by police during 'questioning' in a Filipino jail. EPA/EMPICS
Timeline of torture in Britain
| 1215 | King John signs Magna Carta, guaranteeing the rights of 'freemen' |
| 1220 | Abolition of trial by ordeal |
| 1241 | First sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering |
| 1426 | Introduction of peine forte et dure |
| 1487 | Establishment of Court of Star Chamber (royal court authorised to order torture) |
| 1605 | Guy Fawkes tortured into confessing |
| 1641 | Abolition of Star Chamber |
| 1644-6 | Career of Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General |
| 1689 | Bill of Rights bans 'cruel and unusual punishments' |
| 1772 | Abolition of peine forte et dure |
| 1820 | Last sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering (not fully carried out) |
| 1864 | Red Cross founded |
| 1865 | Suppression of Morant Bay Rebellion (Jamaica) |
| 1929 | Third Geneva Convention |
| 1948 | Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
| 1949 | Fourth Geneva Convention |
| 1950 | European Convention on Human Rights |
| 1971 | British government accused of torturing IRA suspects |
| 1987 | United Nations Convention Against Torture |
| 1989 | West Midlands Serious Crime Squad disbanded after revelations of torture and corruption |
| 1998 | Human Rights Act incorporates European Convention into British law |
| 2002 | US defines Afghan prisoners at Guantanamo Bay as 'unlawful combatants' |
| 2002 | Additional Protocol to United Nations Convention Against Torture |
| 2002 | US department of justice adopts narrow definition of torture |
| 2004 | Publication of pictures of prisoner abuse from Abu Ghraib |
| 2005 | Publication of pictures of prisoner abuse from British bases in Iraq |
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