7.       (1) For the purposes of this Act, acts of persecution must be—

(a) sufficiently serious by their nature or repetition to constitute a severe violation of basic human rights, in particular the rights from which derogation cannot be made under Article 15(2) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, or

(b) an accumulation of various measures, including violations of human rights, which is sufficiently severe as to affect an individual in a similar manner as mentioned in paragraph (a).

(2) The following are examples of acts which may amount to acts of persecution for the purposes of subsection (1):

(a) acts of physical or mental violence, including acts of sexual violence;

(b) legal, administrative, police or judicial measures, or a combination of these measures, that are in themselves discriminatory or are implemented in a discriminatory manner;

(c) prosecution or punishment that is disproportionate or discriminatory;

(d) denial of judicial redress resulting in a disproportionate or discriminatory punishment;

(e) prosecution or punishment for refusal to perform military service in a conflict, where performing military service would include crimes or acts of a kind referred to in section 10(2);

(f) acts of a gender-specific or child-specific nature.

(3) For the purpose of the definition of “refugee” in section 2, there must be a connection between the reasons for persecution and the acts of persecution or the absence of protection.