I agree that if he's being tortured it needs to stop. No one should suffer such horrors. That being said, accusing someone based upon hearsay, even if it is a friend you believe, isn't the smartest thing to do. Just as you want to defend your friend, the friends of the one you accuse wish to defend him.

Please, don't believe me unsympathetic, because I am. I just [inkblot] I've seen too many people's lives ruined because of something someone else said that wasn't completely true.