E/CN.4/2001/66 page 127 651. On 17 March 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal on behalf of Akram Saber Mohammed Elsamri, a Gaza resident who had reportedly been arrested at the Erez Checkpoint on 2 March 2000 and who was said to be detained incommunicado in the General Security Service (GSS) interrogation unit of the Shikma detention centre. The Special Rapporteur also intervened on behalf of I’ad Mussa Mohammed Shurbaji, a Gaza resident, who had reportedly been arrested at the Erez Checkpoint on 21 February 2000 and since detained in the GSS interrogation unit of the Shikma detention centre. 652. On 23 March 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal on behalf of Mohamed As’ad Yassin, a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer from Dibbin, Muhsin Nasrallah and Aba-Dharr Shugeir, a student from Mays al-jabal, who had reportedly been arrested in South Lebanon on 1, 7 and 19 March 2000 respectively. They were believed to be detained at Khiam detention centre. 653. On 13 April 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal on behalf of Mustafa Dirani, a Lebanese citizen, who had reportedly been arrested by an Israeli commando unit at his home in Kasser Naba in the Biqaa’ Valley on 20 May 1994. He had reportedly been held in Khiam detention centre in incommunicado detention until September 1998, when he was allowed legal representation. He was severely tortured and kept totally naked for several months. He was reportedly subjected to electric shocks and a continuous deprivation of sleep, routine beatings and violent shaking and was forced to kneel for hours with his feet flat on the ground and his hands behind his back. He was allegedly denied medical treatment. He bears shrapnel wounds in his head and back which cause hemiplegia and which required surgery to be undertaken to his head and spinal cord. 654. On 19 April 2000, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences on behalf of Qozet Elias Ibrahim, a freelance woman journalist from Rmeish, on behalf of whom the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression and opinion and the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention intervened on 22 September 1999, and Najwa Hosein Samhat, a woman from Aynata. Both were said to be currently detained in Khiam detention centre. Qozet Elias Ibrahim was reportedly arrested on 2 September 1999 by the Israeli security forces on the grounds of having been accused of preparing reports about the situation in the occupied territories. She is said to suffer from a severe ulcer/infection of the large intestine. She is constantly hooked to a drip in her cell because she is unable to keep any food in her stomach. Najwa Hosein Samhat was reportedly arrested with her husband Hussein Ahmad Samhat and her 16-year-old son, Ahmad Hosein Samhat, on 29 September 1999; both are reportedly detained with her. She has been subjected to whipping of her feet causing extensive bruising, blows to her face causing a cut lip, being hung by her hair and having cold and hot water poured on her body by women police officers. Both Qozet Elias Ibrahim and Najwa Hosein Samhat were reportedly taken to hospital by Israeli forces and militiamen from the South Lebanon Army after their health conditions deteriorated, allegedly as a result of having been subjected to torture at Khiam.