in 1976, the irish government sued the united kingdom in the european commission on human rights (ireland v. united kingdom, 1976 y.b. eur. conv. on hum. rts. 512, 748, 788-94 (european commission of human rights)). ireland argued that the "five techniques" were torture. the commission agreed, and said that if the five techniques were used together, they ""amount to torture". however, this decision was reversed on appeal.