Tom Morello, shown performing in March in Austin, Texas, objects to having Rage Against the Machine songs used to torment prisoners. (Jack Plunkett/Associated Press)

A group of musicians, including bands such as Massive Attack, has backed a lobby group that is urging governments to stop the use of music in torture.

They're working with British law group Reprieve, which represents dozens of Guantanamo Bay detainees. Reprieve is reporting that audio torture is a common tactic in the U.S. war on terror, and detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo are subject to hours of loud music every day.

Using loud music "to create fear and disorient detainee(s) and prolong capture shock" was among a host of interrogation tactics authorized by then commander in Iraq, Lt.-Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, in a memo dated Sept. 14, 2003.

Songs by Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, AC/DC, Eminem and Bruce Springsteen were played up to 16 hours a day at high volume at the prison camps, Reprieve says.

An online "zero decibel" or zerodB petition against use of music in audio torture began collecting signatures Wednesday.

Actress Julie Christie, Massive Attack and Tom Morello, who played with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, have joined with Reprieve in the campaign.

The petition says: "I condemn the use of music to torture. I call on governments and the UN to take a stand against it, to uphold and enforce the Convention against Torture and relevant treaties."

The United Nations and European Court of Human Rights have condemned the use of loud music on prisoners.

The online petition features artists standing in silence to emphasize the right to quiet.

Doesn't want own music used

Morello has been emphatic in requesting his own music not be used in torture. At a recent concert in San Francisco, he called for Guantanamo Bay to be razed.

"I suggest that they level Guantanamo Bay, but they keep one small cell and they put Bush in there ... and they blast some Rage Against the Machine," he said.

Other musicians who came out against the use of their songs include Christopher Cerf, who wrote music for Sesame Street and Bob Singleton, whose song I Love You is used on the Barney show.

Cerf said he was horrified to learn songs from a children's TV show were used in interrogations.

"I wouldn't want my music to be a party to that," he said.

Singleton wrote an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times saying it was "ludicrous" that I Love You would be used to torture prisoners.

"A song that was designed to make little children feel safe and loved was somehow going to threaten the mental state of adults and drive them to the emotional breaking point?" he wrote.

Reprieve released statements from prisoners describing the effect of the audio assault, which can be particularly harsh on those who have not previously been exposed to Western music.

Binyam Mohammed, a former prisoner in Afghanistan, now at Guantanamo Bay, said many of his fellow prisoners were unable to endure the repetitive use of rock songs.

They wound up screaming and smashing their heads against walls, he told his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith.

"There was loud music, (Eminem's) Slim Shady and Dr. Dre for 20 days. I heard this nonstop over and over," he said. "The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night for the months before I left. Plenty lost their minds."

Rear Adm. David Thomas, the commander of Guantanamo's detention centre, said the music treatment is not currently used at Guantanamo but added that he could not rule out its use in the future.

Reports emerged last month that president-elect Barack Obama's advisers were working on plans to close Guantanamo.

With files from the Associated Press