The aims of this chapter are to highlight the legal prohibition of torture and to illustrate judicial decisions in cases relating to its prohibition in order to assess how far the European Convention on Human Rights and the UK Human Rights Act 1998 are designed and deployed to prevent contemporary abuses of the ideals of the rule of law and essential civil liberties as enshrined by Article 3 of those statutes. The chapter discusses mechanisms for evading the law on torture and cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the circumstances in which this occurs and highlights such practices around the world. The relevance of human rights law will be assessed, and the effectiveness of legal challenges over the torture and ill-treatment of detainees held by the UK and US abroad will be highlighted as will the current complex moral and ethical dilemmas surrounding its use.