A/HRC/31/57/Add.1 (d) JUA 27/08/2015 Case No. SDN 6/2015 State Reply: None to date Allegations concerning the sentencing of Ferdous Al Toum and Rehab Omar Kakoum, who face punishment of flogging and heavy fines, on charges of “indecent dress.” 529. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Sudan has not replied to the present communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/13. 530. In absence of information to the contrary, the Rapporteur concludes that there is substance in the allegations presented in the initial communication, available via the link above and is, therefore, of the view that the government of Sudan, by punishing those found guilty on charges of “indecent dress” with flogging, as provided under Article 152 of the 1991 Penal Code of Sudan, violates its duty to prevent in any territory under its jurisdiction acts of torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment provided under international customary law, as codified, inter alia, in Articles 2 and 16 of the Convention against Torture (CAT). 531. The Rapporteur wishes to stress that corporal punishment of any sort amounts to torture in violation of customary international law, even if judicially imposed, and that flogging undoubtedly constitutes torture under the CAT. Consistently, paragraph 7 (a) of resolution 8/8 of the Human Rights Council has reminded Governments that corporal punishment can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or even to torture. The Rapporteur stresses that both the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture have called for the abolition of judicial corporal punishment, including excessive chastisement ordered as punishment for a crime as stated in paragraph 5 of General Comment No. 20 (1992) of the Human Rights Council. 532. The Special Rapporteur strongly urges the Government of Sudan to protect the right of Ferdous Al Toum and Rehab Omar Kakoum to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by setting aside the sentences. Additionally, the Rapporteur urges the Government of Sudan to take the steps necessary to refrain from imposing judicial corporal punishment and to abolish its practice. Swaziland JUA 25/03/2015 Case No. SWZ 1/2015 State reply: None to date Allegation of arbitrary detention, conviction, and solitary confinement of lawyer and human rights defender, Mr. Thulani Maseko. 533. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Swaziland has not replied to the present communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 25/13. 534. In his interim report to the General Assembly of 5 August 2011 (A/66/268), the Special Rapporteur defined solitary confinement, in accordance with the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement, as the physical and social isolation of individuals who are confined in their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day. He observed that while solitary confinement for short periods of time may be justified under certain circumstances, with adequate and effective safeguards in place, the use of prolonged (in excess of 15 days under conditions of total isolation) or indefinite solitary confinement may never constitute a legitimate instrument of the State, as it may cause severe mental and physical pain or suffering, a point which has been reiterated in paragraph 28 of the General Assembly resolution 68/156. Prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement runs afoul of the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 90