A committee of the European parliament will consider evidence that more than 15 countries in the European Union are exporting torture equipment.

Amnesty International says regulations introduced four years ago to outlaw the trade are failing.

The devices named by Amnesty include thumb screws, electric stun belts and body hangers, which it says can be used in conjunction with what are known as foot heaters.

Amnesty says the companies that make the equipment are often the same companies that make regular police equipment, like handcuffs and batons.

These sidelines, according to Amnesty, are produced by companies in Germany, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic and sold to regimes around the world with little respect for human rights.

- BBC