E/CN.4/2000/9 page 72 with the assassination of opposition parliamentarians Jaime Hurtado González and Pablo Vicente Tapia Faingnago as well as Borja Nazareno. Mr. Aguirre Freile, who is currently undergoing treatment at the police hospital, is expected to be returned to military custody. Follow-up to previously transmitted communications 355. By letter dated 14 April 1999, the Government responded on some of the cases transmitted by the Special Rapporteur in his letter of 5 November 1998 (E/CN.4/1999/61, paras. 182-189). 356. Concerning Víctor Gonza Peña, Julio Calle Moscol and Anita del Rosario Sierra Rojas, the Government indicated that, after investigation by a special commission consisting of the Ministers of the Interior, Foreign Relations and Defence and the Attorney-General's Office, it was determined that information was available only on prior complaints to the Government and that there was no additional documentation substantiating or supplementing such information. 357. The governmental commission found no information on the other five cases (E/CN.4/1999/61, paras. 184-188). Egypt Regular communications and replies received 358. By letter dated 17 November 1999, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he continued to receive information according to which security forces torture and mistreat suspects. The methods of torture and ill-treatment reportedly include the following: detainees being stripped naked; hung by their wrists with their feet touching the ground or forced to stand for prolonged periods; doused with cold or hot water; beaten; forced to stand outdoors in cold weather; and subjected to electric shock treatment. Torture is reportedly used to extract information, coerce the victims to end their anti-government activities and deter others from such activities. 359. Prison conditions are reported to be life threatening as a result of severe overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions. Medical services are also reported to be insufficient. These conditions reportedly lead to the spread of disease and epidemics. The use of torture and ill-treatment was also reported to be common in prisons. According to the information received, at least 11 persons died in prisons in the country during 1999 as the result of medical negligence on the part of prison authorities. The names of these persons are: Hassouna Gaber Abdel Latef, Magdi Mohammed Abdul Maqsould Afifi, Sa'eed Mohammed Mohammed Fathi Abdul Aziz Abdul Wahid Abdalla, Abu Bakr Sa'ad Mahmoud, Hamid Fathi Abdul Aziz, Ali Abdel Nasser, Fathi Ali Orman, Fathi Abdel-Aziz Ibrahim, Sa'eed Eid Mohammed Eid Adam and Mahmoud Nour Eddine. 360. The Special Rapporteur has received several reports of the detention of hundreds of citizens in the largely Coptic Christian village of al-Kush in Sohag governorate, including relatives of suspects, women and children, during the investigation of a double murder of two Copts on 14 August 1998. The local Christians reportedly identified the killers as two Muslims from a nearby village, but the police are alleged to have detained over 1,000 Christians during the investigation. Individuals were allegedly given electric shocks, whipped and hung upside down. Several were reportedly hung from the ceiling for