CAT: A Study on Bangladesh Compliance encompasses prolonged coercive or abusive conduct which in itself is not severe, but becomes so over a period of time.”7 The CAT, like other conventions referring to torture, also includes the prohibition of ‘mental torture’ within the scope of the prohibition of torture.8 A non-exhaustive list of examples of mental pain or suffering amounting to torture includes prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mindaltering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality of the victim; the threat of imminent death; or the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mindaltering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly his or her senses or personality.9 In 1997, the Committee against Torture concluded that “methods of interrogation [including]: (i) restraining in very 7 8 9 A Boulesba, The UN Convention on Torture and Prospects for Enforcement (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1999), 17. Nigel Rodley, the former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, has emphasised that the prohibition of torture relates not only to acts that cause physical pain but also to acts that cause suffering to the victim, such as intimidation or other forms of threats. Similarly, Theo Van Boven, another former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, observes that prolonged solitary confinement may amount to mental torture. The mere fear of physical torture may itself constitute mental torture. See, E/CN4/ 2001/66, para. 4–11. Boulesba, The UN Convention on Torture, 19. 23