Is the use of torture ever justified in dealing with criminals and terrorists?

“‘To pull out a finger of a terrorist in order to save a couple of million lives’ was morally right,” said Mr. Faris, a former chairman of the National Crime Authority with regards to using torture against terrorist in some domestic crime situations.

Indeed, sometimes torture is needed to force the terrorists to give in and provide important information. There may be members of terrorist organizations or criminals that are prepared to face death for whatever they had done. However, that does not mean that using torture as an investigation technique is justified.

The use of torture on criminals or terrorists is morally unjust. What difference is there between a police who dismember a terrorist to get the information they wanted, and a terrorist that set a bomb to harm the public? During his arrest, a terrorist of al-Qaeeda was shot 3 times and nursed to health by the U.S doctors. The terrorist suffered from physical torture repeatedly. Though it is a criminal that we are dealing with, yet we should not forget that a live is at stake. The terrorists and criminals may have committed serious crimes that are unforgivable but we should not use torture as an investigation technique to find out valuable information.

Besides that, the use of torture yields little results. Taking the example in the article “the unofficial story of the al-Qaeda 14’, Zubayah did not give any information regarding another member, Binalshibh. Instead, he was brought to the attention of investigators as he had sent wire transfers to other members of the al-Qaeda. It is also mentioned by Mr. Faris, “If you don’t get the information, you don’t get the information.” Torturing the terrorists or criminals does not guarantee that the terrorists or criminals will give in. They may instead give worthless information in hope to end the torturing. For example, Zubaydah named countless targets inside the U.S to stop the pain. Thus, torturing the criminals or terrorists is not the way to dig information out of them.
Lastly, there are alternatives that not only are productive and moral. For example, instead of dismember the terrorists, the FBI promise of providing better amenities is what causes the terrorists of al-Qeada to cooperate with them. Using a more humanitarian approach to the terrorists or criminals may in turn gain their trust and earn valuable information for the investigation. Moreover, it is an approach that the public is able to accept, as it is morally right.