E/CN.4/1998/38 page 25 persons detained by the General Security Services (GSS) had been subjected to torture or other ill-treatment during interrogation. Many if not all of the reported methods of torture and other ill-treatment were said to be authorized under the Landau guidelines, which remain unpublicized, allowing for the use of “moderate physical pressure” under certain circumstances. These methods include: violent shaking; tying the victim in painful positions; forcing the victim to sit or stand in painful positions (shabeh); hooding, often with malodorous sacks; sleep deprivation; enforced squatting; exposure to loud music; and threats, including death threats. 122. The Special Rapporteur also transmitted to the Government six individual cases and made seven urgent appeals, on behalf of 31 individuals. He further retransmitted a number of allegations previously submitted to which no reply had been received. The Government replied to three urgent appeals and provided responses to five cases included in last year's report. Observations 123. The Special Rapporteur appreciates the detailed responses received from the Government and acknowledges again the dreadful challenges posed by politically motivated terrorist activities. It is nevertheless clear that Israel has not found means compatible with international law to interrogate suspected terrorists. Nor, as indicated by the Tarabieh case mentioned in the addendum to this report (E/CN.4/1998/38/Add.1, para. 214), does he share the Government's confidence that the methods used are restricted to uses where a “terrible disaster” looms (id., para. ...). He notes the position of the Committee against Torture which concludes, consistently with his own observations last year, that the known methods of interrogation are “breaches of article 16 [prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment] and also constitute torture as defined in article 1 of the Convention [against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment]. This conclusion is particularly evident where such methods of interrogation are used in combination which appears to be the standard case”. (A/52/44, para. 257). Kenya 124. By letter of 17 February 1997, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had continued to receive information concerning widespread instances of torture in Kenya. The methods of torture reported include: beatings, including kicking to the sides while the victim is lying on his or her back, beating on the soles of the feet or on the legs, beating all over the body, beating with a sharp-edged pole and “boxing” of the ears; being held in a hole which is progressively filled with water; exposure to cold; administration of burns; administration of electric shocks; confinement in the dark; forcing victims to maintain tiring postures; sexual abuse, including rape, tightening of a wire tied around the testicles, insertion of objects into the rectum, pricking of the genitals, and threats of rape to the victim or the victim's family; forced exercise; and prevention of access to the toilet.