DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Three survivors of a supposed HIV treatment program run by Gambia's former leader Yahya Jammeh featuring a supposed "cure" with secret potions have filed a lawsuit claiming they suffered.

The advocacy group AIDS-Free World calls this the first time Jammeh has been sued in a Gambian court over alleged abuses during his 22-year rule of this tiny West African nation.

The survivors filed Thursday at the high court in Banjul, saying their rights were violated.

Jammeh in 2007 announced that he could cure AIDS. He ordered patients to live in a facility, forego antiretroviral drugs and submit to his treatment under armed guards' surveillance.

Patients said the treatment made them ill and posed grave threat to their health.

Jammeh stepped down last year and lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea.