A/HRC/34/54/Add.2 blows with objects such as batons or cricket bats to the head, shoulders, back and legs), which heal without medical treatment and leave no physical scars. Insults and threats were also reported. 26. The Special Rapporteur interviewed current and former suspects detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and received well-documented accounts of extremely brutal methods of torture, including burns; beatings with sticks or wires on the soles of the feet (falanga); stress positions, including suspension for hours while handcuffed; asphyxiation using plastic bags drenched in kerosene and hanging of the person upside down; application of chili powder to the face and eyes; and sexual torture, including rape and sexual molestation, and mutilation of the genital area and rubbing of chili paste or onions on the genital area. In some cases, these practices occurred over a period of days or even weeks, starting upon arrest and continuing throughout the investigation. 27. Most torture survivors indicated that the acts of torture ceased after they confessed, which sometimes included signing blank papers or documents in a language they could not read. However, in the case of arrests made under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, torture and ill-treatment often continued after the confession, although they were often less severe and/or less frequent. In both cases, torture ceased with the transfer from Criminal Investigations Department or Terrorism Investigation Division detention to a remand prison. 2. Threats against national security and terrorism investigations 28. While the state of emergency was lifted in 2011, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, together with five regulations that were enacted under it, remains in force and constitutes a de facto state of emergency suspending fundamental rights and guarantees, including constitutional and international safeguards against acts of torture or ill-treatment. 29. A suspect arrested under the Act, with or without a warrant, may be kept in custody for a maximum of 72 hours before being brought before a magistrate, during which time the police may transfer the detainee for the purpose of the investigation without judicial authorization (sect. 7 (1) and (3)). However, if a detention order is issued by the Minister of Defence, a person may, be detained for up to 18 months with periodic judicial supervision, without the possibility of challenging its legality (sects. 9 (1) and 10). In such cases, detainees may “be kept in the custody of any authority, in such place and under such conditions” as determined by the Minister in the interest of national security or public order (sect. 15A (1)). 30. The Prevention of Terrorism Act further allows for any statement made by the suspect at any time in custody in the presence of a police officer or during an investigation to be admissible in court, whether or not it amounts to a confession. It places the burden of proof that such statement was extracted under duress, and therefore inadmissible, on the accused (sects. 16 and 17). 31. The Special Rapporteur received credible testimonies that torture and ill-treatment are inflicted on almost all suspects held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act during detention by the Criminal Investigations Department and the Terrorism Investigation Division, as well as sometimes by the armed forces. The Special Rapporteur also observed that officers of the Department and the Division and members of the armed forces acting as arresting officers were often in plain clothes and did not identify themselves. Furthermore, Division offices are sometimes located on military bases and several former detainees under the Act reported, even in recent cases, being taken to, or next to, a military facility for interrogation. Most of those detainees also confirmed that they had signed a confession under duress. This leads the Special Rapporteur to conclude that the use of torture and ill- 7