torture

He was found guilty in June this year of torture, overseeing public amputations by machete and the brutal floggings of residents, including children.

“I’m quite cruel to my protagonists. I drag them through the mud, I torture them, they suffer a lot of trauma, but then I reward them at the end.”

These soldiers are “trained to withstand a high degree of physical pain and psychological torture”, says Michael Madden, a North Korea expert from the Stimson Center in Washington.

Shahida feared the threat of detention and torture by the Taliban government in Afghanistan every day.

Two women have been jailed for their part in a monkey torture ring and behaviour described by the judge as "depraved, sickening and wicked".