A/HRC/4/33/Add.3
page 7
“(1) Anyone who inflicts on a person any form of unlawful violence or harsh treatment
with a view to obtaining a confession to an offence or information thereon shall be
punished by imprisonment for a period of three months to three years.
(2)
If such acts of violence or harsh treatment lead to illness or injury, the penalty
shall be imprisonment for a period of six months to three years unless the said acts
warrant a more severe penalty.”
13.
However, the definition contained in article 208 is not consistent with article 1 of the
Convention against Torture, and this has been noted with concern by the CAT in its concluding
observations of 26 July 1995.2 The definition in article 208, among other things, does not
differentiate between private actors and public officials; it does not, or only partly, cover the
infliction of mental pain or suffering; and does not impose sanctions that reflect the gravity of
the crime, which is regarded a misdemeanour.
14.
Corporal punishment of prisoners is no longer practised.3 Moreover, the Government
informed the Special Rapporteur that a prisoner who breaches prison regulations is subject only
to such penalties as are prescribed by law, such as denial of visits, solitary confinement, loss of
one quarter of time off for good behaviour, a caution, or a warning. These penalties cannot be
imposed in combination.
15.
Disciplinary action against security officers, according to article 37 of the Public Security
Law of 1965, may result in lowering of rank for those under a certain rank, confiscation of salary
for up to two months and prison or detention for up to two months. In case a public official is
convicted for having committed a felony he or she also faces dismissal from service. However, a
public official sentenced for a misdemeanour is not automatically dismissed.
3. Safeguards against torture and ill-treatment during arrest and detention
16.
Article 7 of the Constitution provides “Personal freedom shall be guaranteed”, and
article 8 stipulates that “No person may be detained or imprisoned except in accordance with the
provisions of law”.4
17.
Article 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, concerned with the phase following
arrest, stipulates that the police officer who is not satisfied with the testimony shall send the
person concerned to the Public Prosecutor within 24 hours, who in turn should question him/her
2
See the State party report (CAT/C/16/Add.5) and the concluding observations thereon (Official
Records of the General Assembly, Fiftieth session, Supplement No. 44, (A/50/44), para. 166.
3
4
See CAT/C/SR.219, para. 15.
One far-reaching example is the Law on Crime Prevention, 1954, which allows provincial
governors to administratively detain, without charge or trial, anyone suspected of committing a
crime or deemed to be a danger to society for a period of one year, indefinitely renewable. Also
women at risk of being a victim of an honour crime can be detained on basis of this law.