belonging to a secret movement. The government did not provide any argument to establish the criminal nature or character of these groups. The Commission is of the view that any law on associations should include an objective description that makes it possible to determine the criminal nature of a fact or organisation. In the case under consideration, the Commission considers that none of these simply rational requirements was met and that there was violation of Article 10(2). 108. Article 11 of the Charter stipulates: "Every individual shall have the right to assemble freely with others. The exercise of this right shall be subject only to necessary restrictions provided for by law, in particular, those enacted in the interest of national security, the safety, health, ethics and rights and freedoms of others." 109. The accused in the Manifesto case were charged [with] holding unauthorised meetings (para. 3 and 6). The trial in question in paragraph 3 took place before the entry into force of the African Charter. Consequently, the Commission cannot consider that there was a violation of Article 11 as regards this particular case. However, had the indictments constituted a violation of Article 11, the detentions that ensued from them would have been a violation of Article 6, which prohibits arbitrary detention. 110. The presumed supporters of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party are equally accused of holding unauthorised meetings. 111. The government did not come up with any element to show that these accusations had any foundation in the "interest of national security, the safety, health, ethics and rights and freedoms of others" , as specified in Article 11. Consequently, the Commission considers that there was violation of Article 11 in the cases in question in paragraphs 3 and 11. 112. Article 6 of the Charter stipulates: "Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. No one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously laid down by law. In particular, no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained." 113. There were recurring violations of Article 6. The indictments and trials of September 1986 (para. 3, 4 and 5) were not in conformity with the provisions of the Charter. All those who were incarcerated in its wake were denied their rights as guaranteed in Article 6. The imprisonment resulting from the other cases (para.. 6 and 8), and the two cases from November 1987 (para. 10) as well as the cases against the presumed members of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party (para. 11) are arbitrary, for the fact that they were not in conformity with international norms relating to fair trial. 114. The complainants allege that hundreds of people were detained in connection with the 1989 events (para. 15). They allege, further, that a wave of arrests at the end of 1990 resulted in the detention of hundreds of people without charge or trial. According to the complainants, some, and not all, of the detainees were released, adding however that the fate of many people remains unknown. The government did not deny that these arrests and detentions took place, but it maintained that such arbitrary detentions no longer exist. Even if that were the case, it would not annul the previous violations. The Commission considers, therefore, that there was massive violation of Article 6. 115. Article 5 of the African Charter prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment. This article also stipulates: "Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being". All the communications detail instances of torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments. During their time in custody, the detainees were beaten (para. 8), they were forced to make statements (para. 8 and 11), and they were denied the opportunity of sleeping (para. 10). Both during the trial as well as the period of arbitrary detention, some of the prisoners were held in solitary confinement (para. 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12). 116. The conditions of detention were, at the very least, bad: the prisoners were not fed; they were kept in chains and locked up in overpopulated cells lacking hygiene and access to medical care (para. 12); some were burnt or buried in sand and left to die a slow death; electrical shocks were administered to their genital organs and they had weights tied on to them; their heads were plunged into water to the point of provoking suffocation; pepper was smeared on their eyes and some were permanently kept in small, dark (or underground) cells which got very cold at night (para. 23). 117. Both within and outside the prisons, the so-called "Jaguar" position was the form of torture utilised, (see para. 20 and 22). The prisoners were beaten (para. 12 and 20) and their bodies burnt using various instruments (para. 20 and 22). The women were raped (para. 20). 118. The government did not produce any argument to counter these facts. Taken together or in isolation, these acts are proof of widespread utilisation of torture and of cruel, inhuman and degrading forms of treatment and constitute a violation of Article 5. The fact that prisoners were left to die slow deaths (para 10) equally constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading forms of treatment prohibited by Article 5 of the 12