A/65/44 The State party should amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to explicitly prohibit the use of any statement obtained as a result of torture as a form of evidence in judicial proceedings. It should also take the necessary measures to ensure that statements made under torture are not invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. The State party is requested to review criminal convictions based solely on confessions, especially those ruled by the Supreme State Security Court and military courts, in order to identify instances of wrongful conviction based on evidence obtained through torture or ill-treatment and to take appropriate remedial measures. Human rights defenders (34) The Committee is concerned about reports of persisting acts of harassment and persecution, including threats and other human rights violations, experienced by human rights defenders, and about the fact that such acts go unpunished (arts. 12 and 16). The State party should take all necessary steps to ensure that all persons, including those monitoring human rights, are protected from any intimidation or violence as a result of their activities and exercise of human rights guarantees, to ensure the prompt, impartial and effective investigation into such acts, and to prosecute and punish perpetrators and provide compensation to victims. (35) The Committee is concerned about the case of Muhannad Al-Hassani, president of the Syrian Human Rights Organization (Swasiah), arrested on 28 July 2009 and charged with “weakening national sentiment” and “spreading false or exaggerated information” in connection with his monitoring of the Supreme State Security Court. The Committee is also concerned about the case of Haytham al-Maleh, a 79-year-old prominent human rights lawyer who has been jailed repeatedly and is now on trial (art. 12 and 16). The Committee urges the State party to provide information about the legal situation and physical and mental integrity of Muhannad Al-Hassani, as well as information about the ongoing trial of Haytham al-Maleh. National human rights institution (36) The Committee notes with concern that the State party has not yet established a national human rights institution to promote and protect human rights in the State party, in accordance with the Paris Principles (art. 2). The State party should establish an independent national human rights institution, in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles), annexed to General Assembly resolution 48/134. Data collection (37) While noting that some statistics have been provided, the Committee regrets the lack of comprehensive and disaggregated data on complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of cases of torture by law enforcement officials, as well as on trafficking in persons and domestic and sexual violence (arts. 2, 12, 13 and 16). The State party should establish an effective system to gather all relevant statistical data in order to monitor the implementation of the Convention at the national level, including complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions of cases of torture and ill-treatment, trafficking in persons and domestic and sexual violence. 138 GE.10-44721