E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.1 page 119 Information received from the Government 627. On 5 January 1995 the Government sent to the Special Rapporteur a publication by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled Sri Lanka - Human Rights, detailing measures taken towards the implementation of its programme to promote human rights. Relevant to the mandate of the Special Rapporteur was information that a bill to give effect to the Convention against Torture had been passed by Parliament on 25 November 1994. 628. On 30 November 1995 the Government provided the Special Rapporteur with further information regarding measures recently undertaken by the Government and already existent safeguards concerning his mandate. In this respect, a bill to establish a Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, presented in Parliament on 24 August 1995, was expected to be taken up for debate in January 1996. The right that no one shall be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is incorporated into article 11 of the Constitution as non-derogable. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is empowered to receive complaints concerning violations of this right and to grant appropriate relief. Officials who are the objects of such complaints are not defended by the Attorney-General, but rather must retain their own counsel. The courts also have the discretion to release persons detained under the Emergency Regulations. In order to extend the period of detention beyond the maximum of one year, a suspect must be produced before a magistrate. Every person admitted to prison is examined by a doctor. Corporal punishment, either in the form of punishment or as a disciplinary measure, had been suspended during the last 10 years. Members of the HRTF are given access to persons arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act or the Emergency Regulation and may enter at any time any place of detention. Sudan Information transmitted to the Government 629. By letter dated 18 September 1995 the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had continued to receive information indicating that the torture of detainees by security officials in the country was systematic. The methods of torture reported include severe beatings, enforced lying on hot metal plates until the skin is badly burnt, enforced standing for prolonged periods in the sun, physical contortion and enforced repetitive exercising. 630. The Special Rapporteur also transmitted the individual cases described in the following paragraphs. 631. Osman Mahmud Ali and al-Hassan Ahmad Saleh were among 10 persons reportedly tortured after their arrest in April 1993 on suspicion of conspiring to cause acts of sabotage. Some of the detainees were allegedly beaten with whips and hosepipes while bound hand and foot, sometimes naked. Osman Mahmud Ali was allegedly subjected to the following treatment: beatings, including by karate methods; being forced to lie naked on hot iron sheets until his skin was burnt; being forced to lie on sun-heated cartridge cases while a security official was standing on his back, causing burns and skin cuts; and having pins inserted into his ears. Al-Hassan Ahmad Saleh was allegedly beaten so severely that he lost an eye. The ten defendants