'Irish' star 'shaken' by waterboarding

Actor Trevor Williams was reportedly left "shaken" after being waterboarded for scenes in Ken Loach's upcoming Iraq war drama Route Irish.

Speaking at the Cannes press conference for the movie, Williams's co-star Mark Womack revealed that initial plans to fake the torture failed.

Womack said: "It was very traumatic, for Trevor more than I, I'd imagine. We tried to cheat it with the use of a tube and we found that it wasn't working that way for us.

"Trevor just went for it. I think we had to. If you're going to do something like that you've got to commit to do it as truthfully as you possibly can."

Producer Rebecca O'Brien added: "He was still shaken by it for several weeks afterwards, because it is a really vile, vile thing."

Loach said of the technique: "Waterboarding is torture. Although it was sanctioned by the United States... and of course condoned by the British government, whatever they say.

"It's absurd to pretend that they didn't know and their knowledge shows their consent. It breaks the Geneva Convention, it breaks all our understanding of human rights, it breaks our commitment not to torture."