A/HRC/17/44 based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity (art. 1, para. 1). International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the torture and cruel treatment of persons taking no active part in hostilities (including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms or been rendered hors de combat) (art. 4, para. 2 (a), of Protocol II and common article 3). Such conduct constitutes a war crime and torture is an act which can form part of a crime against humanity (see article 8, paragraph 2 (c) (i), and article 7, paragraph 1 (f), of the Rome Statute). 3. (a) Factual findings Violations committed by Government forces 113. The Commission received information from many persons of their torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 114. One man who spoke with the Commission related that he had been arrested by members of the Public Security Agency and ISA in Benghazi on 17 February and taken to the Benghazi police station. At that point, he and the other 26 persons arrested were all beaten by security personnel. Clubs and rifles were used to inflict the beating. About 15 minutes after the beating finished, the group were transported to ISA premises in Sidi Jaber, in central Benghazi, where they were tortured with electricity shocks on their sexual organs. The man also reported seeing ISA forcibly removing the nails and teeth of another detainee. When the Commission visited Al-Jdaydah detention centre in Tripoli, two detainees of the five interviewed, told the Commission that they had been subjected to severe beating during the first days of their detention. 115. Another man arrested on 25 February in connection with a demonstration in Tajurah, reported that he was blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination where he was beaten with electric wires. His arms were tied behind his back while he was repeatedly hit with a Kalashnikov on his forehead and the back of his head. He stated that he was detained for 10 days and beaten by batons. During his detention, he could also hear the voices of other persons screaming and moaning from pain. On the fifth day, the abusive treatment led to the inflammation of his wounds, causing him to faint due to the pain. When he woke up, he was beaten again. He was threatened with being beaten again if he did not go on Al Libya TV channel saying that he was supportive of Colonel Qadhafi and confess to being part of the Al-Qaida group. 116. A Jordanian migrant reported that he was stopped by Khamis Katiba soldiers on his way to a nearby shop in his neighbourhood in Maya area in Tripoli. He stated that after being beaten on all parts of his body, he was taken to a nearby detention facility, where he was held and beaten for a week on the head, face, fingers, hands and legs with batons and rifles. He was stripped and “forced to perform like a dog”. He noted that he fainted many times under torture. The Commission could see bruises on his fingers while interviewing him, several weeks after his detention. (b) Violations committed by opposition armed forces 117. On 20 April, the Commission visited Benghazi Detention Centre, a facility run by Opposition forces. The Commission met with 25 detainees of the 72 held at the Centre at that time. Detainees interviewed included five foreign nationals from Algeria, Chad, Niger and the Syrian Arab Republic. The majority of interviewees said that they had not been beaten during their detention. However, some reported, being beaten with clubs at the time of their capture. 33