E/CN.4/1993/26 page 96 Swedish that he could not understand and on 13 January 1992 for requesting the delivery of a package. Fears were expressed that he might be subjected to further ill-treatment. 426. The Government replied to this case on 8 May 1992 by sending a report from the Governor of Kumla prison. According to it, Mr. Aktas was a mentally abnormal person who had difficulty in accepting his situation and in adapting to the prison regulations. On 3 April 1992, and without provocation, he attacked one of the warders, causing him minor injuries. A day or two later he underwent a routine lung X-ray in the prison, the result of which was satisfactory. He also tried to persuade the senior nurse to certify in writing that he had been beaten, which the nurse was not able to do since he had not been present when Mr. Aktas attacked the warder and because he had no visible wounds. No injuries were recorded in the medical reports corresponding to the time during which Mr. Aktas was at Kumla prison. Syria Arab Republic Information transmitted to the Government and replies received thereon 427. By letter dated 27 October 1992 the Special Rapporteur communicated to the Government that he had received information according to which torture is routinely used by various security agencies both as a means of extracting information about suspects and as a form of punishment. This is so despite the fact that torture is banned by the Constitution and is punishable by imprisonment under the Penal Code. Methods of torture include beatings on all parts of the body; falaqa (beating on the soles of the feet); dullab (the tyre method-hanging the victim from a suspended tyre and beating him or her with sticks and cables); and pouring cold water over the victim's body. The case of Aktham Nu'aysa was reported in particular. This person, a 41-year-old lawyer, was arrested in December 1991 in connection with the activities of the so-called Committees for the Defence of Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights in Syria. He was reportedly tortured so badly that he needed medical treatment and had to be taken to the Harasta Military Hospital near Damascus. 428. It was also reported that the following persons had died in police custody as a result of torture: (a) Colonel Muhammad Dawud (also known as Abu Dawud), a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), died in his cell in Saidnaya Prison in December 1990 or January 1991. He had allegedly been subjected to severe torture the previous day. The reasons for his torture were reportedly related to a chant sung by Palestinian and other prisoners in celebration of the uprising in the Occupied Territories. He was apparently suspected of being the instigator of the singing; (b) Ziad Musa Qatnani reportedly died on 8 May 1990 in Fara'al- Tahqiq al-'Askari in Damascus. He had been visited by his mother one month before his death, when he appeared to be in reasonable health. However, when his body was returned to his family, it apparently bore marks of torture by electricity and his skull was broken;