Alleged Violation of Article 5 82. Article 5 of the African Charter states that “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”. 83. From the totality of submissions under this part from the Complainants, there are also three sub-issues to be considered by the Commission as follows: (i) hanging as a method of execution; (ii) “death row” phenomenon; (iii) secrecy of the execution and refusal to hand over body for burial. The Complainants aver that the victim’s execution through the unnecessarily painful method of hanging, the secrecy of the execution and the refusal by the Respondent State to hand over the body of the victim to his family for burial, constituted a cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment which amounts to a violation of Article 5 of the African Charter. 84. On hanging, the Commission takes cognizance of the current position of international human rights law on the execution of the death penalty which is that, where a death sentence has been imposed, it must be carried out in such a way as to cause the least possible physical and mental suffering.32 In its own jurisprudence the Commission has reiterated that executions may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment ‘if the suffering caused in execution is excessive and goes beyond that is strictly necessary.’33 85. In the present case, the prisoner was executed via hanging. The issue therefore is whether hanging as a method of execution violates Article 5 of the Charter. 32 33 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20, Para. 6. Communication 277/03: Spilg and mack & Ditshwanelo (Kobedi) v. Botswana (ACHPR 2011) para 167. 26 | P a g e