The International Criminal Court is expected to hand down its verdict on Wednesday against a former Central African Republic rebel commander accused of torture and imprisonment as head of a feared prison unit.

Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, 56, faces seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for atrocities allegedly carried out as the CAR spiralled into civil war in 2013.

Said was a top commander of the Seleka rebel group that ousted president Francois Bozize and plunged the country into a bloody sectarian conflict.

He ran the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry (OCRB) detention centre in the capital Bangui where prosecutors allege horrific acts of torture and deprivation were inflicted on prisoners.

‘Whipped and burned’

Some were "whipped with horsehide whips or sticks with metal wires", "burned, or had their ears pulled with pliers and partially ripped off," ICC judges said when confirming the charges against Said.

A frequently used torture method was "arbatachar", in which prisoners' hands, elbows, and feet were tied tightly together behind their backs.

Conditions in the prison were dire, with small and overcrowded cells that were hot and dark with no air holes or windows, the ICC said.

Prisoners were denied food or water and some drank their own urine out of thirst, according to the court.

There was a cell dubbed "the hole" directly under Said's office, where people were held in "dreadful conditions", said the court.

"This cell was dark and so small that detainees were prevented from lying down, with the floor covered with waste, faeces and urine due to the absence of access to hygienic facilities," the ICC said.

"Some detainees were left bleeding with their hands tied," added the court.

Said, sometimes known by his subordinates as "Colonel", oversaw this maltreatment and personally participated in the beating of at least one prisoner, according to the ICC.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges allegedly carried out between April and August 2013.