A/HRC/31/57/Add.1 Gambia (a) JAL 09/04/2015 Case No. GMB 1/2015 State Reply: None to date Allegations concerning the circumstances of the death of three men allegedly involved in an attempted coup d’état on 30 December 2014 as well as the round of arrests, abductions and illegal detentions following that event. 153. The Special Rapportuer regrets that the Government of the Gambia has not replied to the present communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its reolution 25/13. 154. In the absence of information to the contrary, the Rapporteur concludes that there is substance in the allegations presented in the initial communication, available via the link above and is therefore of the view that the Government of the Gambia, by failing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of three men allegedly involved in a coup d’état against the Government of the Gambia and the arrests, abductions and illegal detention of at least thirty persons, including family members of the alleged plotters and a child that followed, has violated the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as provided by articles 1, 2 and 16 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). 155. The State is urged to consider all necessary measures to safeguard the rights of the persons detained and to ensure a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the aforementioned deaths and in the event that the investigations support or suggest the allegations to be correct, to ensure the accountability of any person responsible for the alleged violations. (b) JUA 24/07/2015 Case No. GMB 2/2015 State Reply: None to date Allegations concerning the Act to amend the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia, which would expand the list of offenses punishable by death sentence. 156. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Gambia has not replied to the present communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/13. 157. In the absence of information to the contrary, the Rapporteur concludes that there is substance in the allegations presented in the initial communication, available via the link above, and is therefore of the view that the Government of Gambia, by seeking to pass the Act to amend Section 18(2) of the 1997 Constitution and expand the list of offences punishable by death, fails to comply with international standards regarding the imposition of the death penalty by not limiting the imposition of the death penalty only for the most serious crimes per article 6(2) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 158. As observed by the Special Rapporteur in his report to the General Assembly (A/67/279), there is evidence of an evolving standard within international bodies and a robust State practice to frame the debate about the legality of the death penalty within the context of the fundamental concepts of human dignity and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This evolving standard, along with the resulting illegality of the death penalty under such prohibition, is developing into a norm of customary international law, if it has not already done so (para. 74). Even if the development of this customary norm is still under way, the Special Rapporteur considers that most conditions under which capital punishment is actually applied renders the punishment tantamount to torture and that under many other, less severe conditions, it still amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (para 75). 30