A British academic¡¯s work was used by the Bush Administration in the US to support the use of sleep deprivation as an interrogation technique.

Previously top-secret documents published by President Barack Obama cite a book by Jim Horne, director of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University.

A 48-page Justice Department memo, written in 2005 by Steven Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney-general, and sent to John A. Rizzo, senior deputy-general counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, addresses ¡°whether certain specified interrogation techniques designed to be used on a high-value al-Qaeda detainee in the War on Terror comply with the federal prohibition on torture¡±.

Discussing the CIA technique of depriving suspects of sleep for up to 180 hours, the memo says literature on the physiology of sleep suggested that ¡°even very extended sleep deprivation does not cause physical pain¡±.

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It quotes Why we Sleep, a book written by Professor Horne 20 years ago, as saying: ¡°The longest studies of sleep deprivation in humans¡­ [involved] volunteers who were deprived of sleep for eight to 11 days¡­ Surprisingly little seemed to go wrong with the subjects physically. The main effects lay with sleepiness and impaired brain functioning, but even these were no great cause for concern.¡±

While the memo notes that there are ¡°important differences¡± between sleep deprivation as an instrument of interrogation and its use in controlled experiments on volunteers, it concludes that ¡°the authorised use of extended sleep deprivation by adequately trained interrogators would not be expected to cause¡­ severe physical pain¡±.

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Professor Horne told Times Higher Education that the memo understates the differences and he labelled its conclusions ¡°nonsense¡±.

His experiments were conducted on ¡°happy, healthy volunteers¡± who were ¡°cosseted by their experimenters¡±, he said.

¡°Volunteers typically lead a tranquil existence, are fed very well and, except for having periodically to undergo various harmless tests, have plenty of time for relaxation, reading and watching TV.¡±

But if a person is deprived of sleep while undergoing additional stresses, the situation is totally different, he added.

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Professor Horne said: ¡°Prolonged stress with sleep deprivation will lead to a physiological exhaustion of the body¡¯s defence mechanisms and physical collapse, with the potential for various ensuing illnesses.

¡°We don¡¯t know at what point this latter phase would be reached with ¡®coercive techniques¡¯, but to claim that 180 hours is safe in these respects is nonsense.

¡°Moreover, whereas physical pain may not be particularly apparent even at this stage, the mental pain would be all too evident, and arguably worse.¡±

He also pointed out that a person subjected to this level of sleep deprivation would be unlikely to produce credible information ¡°unaffected by delusion, fantasy or suggestibility¡±.

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¡°I had no knowledge of this memo or its contents until a few days ago, and am both saddened and appalled that my book has been used in this way,¡± he said.

melanie.newman@tsleducation.com