CAT/C/LBN/CO/1 receive the assistance of an interpreter, and the right to request a medical examination by a physician. However, it is concerned about consistent reports indicating that lawyers are not usually allowed to meet with their clients during the period of the investigation, that requests for an interpreter are denied on the basis that the detainee speaks basic Lebanese Arabic or English, and that the confidentiality of medical examinations is not respected. The Committee is also concerned at allegations regarding the failure to adhere to the initial 48-hour limit, extendable for another 48 hours, for detainees to be brought before a judge. The Committee notes with concern the absence of a State-funded legal aid scheme (art. 2). 17. The State party should: (a) Ensure that all detainees are afforded, in law and in practice, all fundamental legal safeguards from the very outset of their detention, including the rights to confidential access to a lawyer, particularly during investigation and questioning, to have the assistance of an interpreter if necessary, to be brought before a judge within the time prescribed by law, and to request and receive an independent medical examination. All medical examinations of detainees should be conducted out of hearing and, whenever security allows, out of sight of law enforcement officers; (b) Make audio and video recording of interrogations of all persons questioned a standard procedure, keep the recordings in secure facilities and make them available to investigators, detainees and lawyers; (c) Consider introducing a comprehensive criminal legal aid system, free of charge for those who do not have sufficient means to pay for legal representation. Illegal detention 18. While taking note of the delegation’s assertion that there is no evidence of the existence of places of secret detention and that no complaints for arrest or torture by nonState actors have been filed in the State party, the Committee remains concerned at the apparent failure to investigate allegations of unlawful arrests and torture by armed militias and the subsequent handover of the alleged victims to the Lebanese security agencies (see A/69/44, annex XIII, para. 31) (arts. 2 and 11). 19. The State party should ensure that no one is held in secret detention on its territory, including by non-State actors. The Committee urges the State party to investigate the existence of any secret non-official detention places and identify those exercising their effective control and related practices of torture. The State party should also cease the practice of incommunicado detention. The Committee encourages the State party to consider ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Conditions of detention 20. While taking note of the steps taken by the State party to improve conditions of detention, such as the planned construction of five new prisons and the commutation of prison sentences, the Committee remains concerned at the extremely high levels of overcrowding — over three times the prison system’s capacity — and the harsh conditions prevailing in detention facilities, including holding cells in police stations. In that connection, it notes the acknowledgement in the State party’s initial report of the difficult conditions in the country’s detention centres and prisons and the existence of serious deficiencies, particularly the lack of adequate facilities, services and infrastructure, high humidity levels, insufficient sunlight and extreme temperatures in prison cells and poor standards of hygiene (see CAT/C/LBN/1, paras. 431-433). The Committee is also concerned about the high number of persons held in pretrial detention, many of them in prolonged pretrial detention, and the fact that pretrial detainees are not separated from convicted prisoners. It notes the delegation’s affirmation that minors are never held with adults, despite reports to the contrary. Also of concern are the reportedly inadequate healthcare services in the prisons, particularly in the case of female prisoners and death row inmates, as well as reports of poor-quality food, inadequate visitation facilities, interprisoner violence and the unwarranted use of intrusive body searches. The Committee 4