It's about empathy. I can't be tortured that way, and neither can you. But a copy or a construct could be - and many of us find the thought just as distasteful as if it were a flesh-and-blood person.

If the simulation could talk to me, I'd rather it be treated decently.

This being said, I think there are ways to go around this problem. There are many ways in which my brain could be disabled so I wouldn't mind it being "tortured" or experimented upon. Consciousness is an emergent property - take away a few of its building blocks and it disappears.