falls short of the requirements under the ACHPR and the ICCPR and therefore violates the 3rd-5th Applicants’ rights. On the allegation of torture and degrading treatment Article 5 of the African Charter on human and Peoples' Rights provides: Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited. Section 21 of the Constitution of the Gambia provides: “No person shall be subject to torture or inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment.” Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation”. The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) provides the most precise and widelycited definition of torture under International law. It defines torture as: “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, 51