Amnesty International have apologised for using the likeness of Iggy Pop on an anti-torture campaign in Belgium. 

The poster featured The Stooges frontman as a battered, bruised figure, quoting him as saying Justin Bieber was "the future of rock and roll". It also carried the slogan: "Torture a man and he will tell you anything."

Iggy PopIggy Pop is yet to comment on Amnesty's campaign

The organisation said in a statement: "The overall goal of this campaign is to try to influence people's ideas on the use of torture.” Amnesty added that it "acted in good faith" and that the campaign "was intended to be ironic".

There hasn’t been an indication that Iggy Pop himself is actually angered by poster. The rock star shared Amnesty’s message on his personal Twitter account, but has made no further comment. 

More: The Stooges Rocker James Williamson Resurrects Lost Album

"According to surveys, a shocking number of people believe that 'torture may sometimes be useful'; more than 36% of people even think that torture is justified in some cases,” said the organisation. 

"This is unacceptable, and we illustrate this reality with the message that a man who is tortured will say anything in order to escape this awfulness, using provocative images and statements to attract public attention,” it added. 

"We would therefore also like to make it clear that the statement attributed to Iggy Pop that he believes Justin Bieber is the future of rock and roll does not represent Iggy Pop's personal opinion but was part of the creative process for this campaign and was intended to be ironic. The image has been removed."

A similar image containing the Dalai Lama has also been removed. “The image of HH the Dalai Lama was widely shared on the internet. Although the Dalai Lama was not the target of the campaign, we understand that this image has caused particular concern in some quarters,” said AI.  

“We have therefore chosen to remove this picture from our digital material in order not to cause any further upset and ensure people’s attention remains focused on the real aim of this campaign : to stop torture.”