"severe torture" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to a very intense and cruel form of torture. For example, "The prisoners suffered from severe torture for years."
News reports said several showed signs of severe torture.
Most show signs of severe torture.
Most bore the marks of severe torture.
He was subjected to severe torture".
His body showed signs of severe torture, including extracted fingernails, said people who saw it.
He also told us that Anas was in solitary confinement and was subjected to severe torture.
Suffice it to say that those of them who managed to survive, despite severe tortures to which they were subjected in the prisons, have from the first war days shown themselves real patriots and heroically fought for the glory of the fatherland.
However, in a video address posted on his Facebook page by a friend, he told of what had happened to him: "I was brutally beaten, had a bag on my head, and was subjected to very severe tortures, but nevertheless they will not be able to intimidate us and we are not going to stop".
He then said that he was living in Tucson, Arizona, and had been subjected to eight months of "the most severe tortures and psychological pressures".
The latter were also often subjected to severe corporal torture.
But according to the committee, the CIA misled the Justice Department about how severe the torture regime actually was.
