E/CN.4/2000/9 page 40 179. By letter dated 8 November 1999, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in May 1997 regarding which no reply had been received. Urgent appeals and replies received 180. On 16 August 1999, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal on behalf of Souleymane Garfa and Ahmadaï Sabre, who are allegedly members of the National Alliance for Resistance (ANR), an armed opposition group. They were reportedly arrested at El Djenenah in Sudan on 27 July 1999 and deported around 3 August 1999. They are currently being detained by the commander of the Second Military region at Adre. Chile Regular communications and replies received 181. By letter dated 8 October 1999, the Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government information on the following cases. 182. Marcelo Gaete Mancilla, Ramón Escobar Díaz, Patricio Gallardo Trujillo, Renú Daniel Salfate Osorio, Marcos Andrade Sánchez, Jaime Pinto Angloni, Guillermo Ossandón Cañas, Pedro Rosas and 46 other political prisoners were subjected to torture and ill-treatment, according to the information received and described below. On 5 February 1999, following an incident involving an inmate, José Luis Medina, and a guard in the Colina I high-security prison, a confrontation occurred, leading the prison staff to fire small-calibre bullets and tear gas at the other prisoners in Mr. Medina's block. A guard is said to have hit prisoner Marcelo Gaete Mancilla in the head with a tear gas bomb and he was carried away, unconscious, by two other prisoners. As a repressive measure, the cells in block J were opened up and the prisoners were awakened with tear gas, handcuffed and subjected to death threats. They were dragged from their cells and members of the Special Prison Anti-Riot Brigade formed a "dark alley" (lines making a corridor through which prisoners were kicked, punched and beaten with sticks). An electric rod was used on prisoner Ramón Escobar, while Guillermo Ossandón Cañas was thrown down ten steps, sustaining corporal contusions, facial bruises and broken eyewear. Outside in the courtyard, the prisoners were forced to drop to the ground in the foetal position; they were again sprayed with tear gas and subjected to more beatings. They were then handcuffed: Mr. Pinto Angloni has the resulting scars. Mr. Andrade Sánchez and Mr. Gallardo Trujillo were allegedly held underwater in a plastic garden pool using the torture technique known as "submarine". One of Mr. Rosas' arms was reportedly burnt with a cigarette butt. In the two hours the prisoners spent in the courtyard, they were able to identify Colonel Edmundo Letelier and Lieutenant Salcedo. A "dark alley" was once again formed, the prisoners again being subjected to the ill-treatment described above, and they were headed towards trucks, in which the majority was transferred to Colina II prison. Upon their arrival, anti-riot personnel again put them through the "dark alley" treatment. Mr. Salfate Osorio, who was transferred to a prison in the town of Antofagasta, was beaten, blindfolded and kept tied up for over six hours. The lawyers for the persons detained in Colina II were not allowed in until 8 February 1999. Relatives and independent medical staff were denied access. The prisoners were reportedly examined by three police physicians; they recognized one known as Chiquito, who reportedly certified their injuries. The chairman of the Chilean Human Rights Committee, Jaime Castillo Velasco, was allowed in and