142.The African Charter does not define the meaning of the words or the phrase "torture or degrading treatment or punishment." However, the African Commission in its interpretation of Article 5 of the African Charter adopted the definition of torture contained in Article 1 of United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT) 95 . The African Commission also adopted the interpretation of the United Nations Committee against Torture 96 in its General Comment No. 2, which states that "for torture to have occurred, the incriminated acts must intentionally cause severe suffering, be intended to obtain information or a confession, punish the victim for real or alleged acts, and be attributable to a public official or person acting in that capacity. 143.The African Commission refers to the positions adopted by the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights and the European Court on Human Rights in John K. Modise v Botswana97 and in Campbell and Cosans v UK98 respectively, that the acts of inhuman and degrading treatment "not only cause serious physical or psychological suffering but also humiliate the individual while exposing them to personal suffering and indignity, and can be interpreted to extend to the widest possible protection against abuses, whether physical or mental". 144.ln assessing whether the alleged physical assault, incommunicado detention, and denial of medical attention to the Victim in the present Communication amounts to torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment, the African Commission will proceed to examine the evidence and arguments presented by the Complainant, to determine whether the actions meet the threshold of severe pain and suffering, to fall within the definition of torture. 145.First, the Complainant asserts that the pervasive nature of the threats and the acts inflicted on the Victim to obtain information were so serious that both singly and in combination, not only caused serious harm but also severe physical and mental pain and suffering, amounting to torture. The Complainant narrated and gave examples of a a series of acts of beatings, lashes and threats by the NISS officers during arrest and detention of the Victim, as referenced in paragraph 96 to 105 above, which according to the Complainant, amounts to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment and punishment. 146.The African Commission recalls its decision in Sudan Human Rights Organization and Center for Housing Rights and Evictions v Sudan99 in which it set out the principal elements that constitute torture under the African Charter, namely that, severe pain or suffering has to have been inflicted for a specific purpose, such as 95 [T)he term "torture" means 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, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at thi~Ji'° lf§ai'lon ,Q~ith O 0 the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. ~,- cP-tc 1 AR1-ir .(,"'o 96 Ibid 19 & See Article 4 of the Resolution on Guidelines and Measures for the Prohibition and PreventionAfrortll"fe~ , uman 6fl ' Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Africa (Robben Island Guidelines) adopted by the Commission in.Octobr 2002 " 97 Communication 97/93 Para 71 , ,f \ ~ ~ 98 ( 1982) ECHR, para 28. ~ ("' " ·'"'"" 6 i;; I 99 Communication 279/03- 296/05 Sudan Human Rights Organization and Center for Housing Rights and Evj__etl~Q Su~-/2fro \6HtRJ. para 255 [sic!] &156 ~~,c, ·:t.<J" R"\ j ( • \ IV4.RcJ,I"' '101 r,,'5/ <'::,~ 't,'E E1 O<- =---- 30