Although the Irish boy band called it quits in 2012, Westlife's music lives on as a torture mechanism for the CIA. And the band's singer Kian Egan had a few comments about the CIA using their music to torture prisoners in Afghanistan.
According to a report titled Out Of The Darkness, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) states that songs like Westlife's 2000 single "My Love" as well as some heavy metal music were looped over and over again in an attempt to garner information from a Tanzanian fisherman named Suleiman Abdullah. Abdullah was transferred over to the CIA in 2003 based on reports of his danger to the United States.
The fisherman himself says that the particular Westlife song targeted him personally since he had just been married before being taken to the COBALT prison in Afghanistan, the alias of which is "The Salt Pit."
The track "My Love" appears on Westlife's album Coast To Coast.
As The Irish Mirror states, Egan made a few comments regarding the report on radio station RTE 2fm. "If we're talking about [playing it] repeatedly, it probably only took about two hours to actually crack the poor guy with that one," he said. "I am only trying to shed a bit of light on the subject and have a bit of fun about it all."
The singer also commented on the fact that heavy metal was being used for torture as well, "Well look I'm a heavy metal fan as well, I listen to Metallica on repeat. Heavy metal and boy bands are two extremes of music; you can understand why they were used. I mean, it is what it is."
This past March, Egan became the new presenter for the British digital radio station, Heat Radio. He is also a coach on The Voice of Ireland, filling a similar role as his mentor, American Idol's Simon Cowell, who had signed Westlife to BMG to begin with, shortly after they formed in 1998.
"Be sure to vote for your favorite celebrities at the 2015 MT Buzz Awards. If you share your vote on Twitter, using #MTBuzzys, then you will be automatically entered in our contest to win a $25 Amazon gift card."
