(a) To obtain information or a confession from the victim or a third person; (b) To punish the victim or a third person for an act committed or suspected of having been committed by either of them; (c) For the purpose of intimidating or coercing the victim or the third person; (d) For any reason based on discrimination of any kind. 2. The perpetrator was himself/herself an official, or acted at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, an official or person acting in an official capacity.1 9.1.3 The above definition of torture sits well with the interpretation adopted by the courts in case law of torture in section 53 of the Constitution. In the case of JESTINA MUKOKO v THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Judgment No. SC 11/122, it was emphasized that the right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment was an absolute prohibition which cannot be derogated from by the State even in a state of public emergency.3 This is due to the importance of the values it protects, i.e. the protection of the dignity and physical integrity of every person regardless of his or her conduct. It is paramount to quote verbatim from the judgement that, “No exceptional circumstance such as the seriousness of the crime the person is suspected of having committed, or the danger he or she is believed to pose to national security can justify infliction of torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment. There cannot be a value in our society over which there is so 1 See Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity: Topical Digests of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Available online at https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/ij/ictr/index.htm. 2 Available online at http://archive.kubatana.net/docs/legal/sc_mukoko_vs_attorney_general_120320.pdf. 3 See Section 87 (4) (b) of the Constitution, “ No law that provides for a declaration of a state of emergency, and no legislative or other measure taken in consequence of such a declaration, may limit any of the rights referred to in section 86 (3), or authorize or permit any of those rights to be violated.” Page 29 of 37