E/CN.4/1993/26 page 73 Mexico Information transmitted to the Government and replies received thereon 310. In a letter of 21 August 1992 the Special Rapporteur forwarded a summary of complaints received regarding the practice of torture in Mexico and various individual cases. The Government commented on these cases in a reply dated 16 November 1992. Information transmitted to the Government with regard to the practice of torture in general 311. According to the information received the criminal legislation in force was amended in February 1991 to prevent abuses of human rights and reduce the practice of torture. Under the new provisions the courts may not accept confessions as valid unless they were made before a judge or member of the public prosecutor's department and in the presence of the accused's lawyer or other person enjoying his confidence. 312. Notwithstanding this reform the practice of torture seems to be undiminished. There are undisguised administrative links between the public prosecutor's office and the police and persons in custody are often brought before the public prosecutor's office before a judge assumes responsibility for the case. These links strengthen the possibility that even in the presence of his lawyer a person in custody may make a false confession out of fear that he may otherwise be tortured when he is again placed in the hands of the police. 313. The Special Rapporteur has also been informed that the National Human Rights Commission's recommendations in cases where members of the governmental forces are found to have acted improperly have not generally been complied with or have not been fully applied. 314. The Special Rapporteur has received a report which states that of 180 prisoners questioned in north remand prison and the Santa Marta Acatitla penitentiary 163 said they had been tortured by police after being taken into custody. Women are also subjected to torture, which in their case is characterized by sexual harassment, rape and threats of harm to children. 315. Torture seems to be practised throughout the country and by police of all branches. Various methods are used. Electric shocks are applied to parts of the body, the favoured targets being the genitals, nipples, mouth and eyes. The prisoner's head is covered with a plastic bag which is tightened until he is on the brink of suffocation. Alternatively the victim's head may be immersed in a lavatory with human excrement in it, a septic tank or a water tank. Mineral water, in some cases with chili added, is squirted into the nostrils. The victim may be grabbed by the hair and yanked this way and that. Sexual vexation may be taken to the point of rape or the prisoner may be frightened by mock executions, threats etc. It is reported that doctors are often under pressure by officials to produce false medical reports.