E/CN.4/1998/38 page 38 Turkey 187. By letter of 21 May 1997, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had continued to receive information concerning the widespread use of torture in Turkey, including that inflicted upon a significant number of children. According to the information, torture was practised against most persons interrogated by the Anti-Terror Branch of the police and the gendarmerie, as well as against many persons detained by the police in ordinary criminal cases. Torture was reportedly administered to extract “confessions”, to obtain information, to intimidate detainees into becoming police informants, or as informal or summary punishment for petty offences or suspected sympathy for illegal organizations. 188. The following methods of torture were said to be common and often employed in concert with each other: administration of electric shocks; hanging by the arms in a variety of positions, including with the arms behind the back (“Palestinian hanging”); spraying with high-pressure water; sexual abuse, include squeezing of the testicles or breasts; beatings with fists, night sticks or sandbags; blindfolding; being stripped naked; and being exposed to extreme temperatures. Much of the most severe torture was said to occur in the early days of detention, so that by the time a detainee appeared in court or underwent a physical examination, there would remain little or no physical evidence that torture had taken place. 189. The Government informed the Special Rapporteur of a law on the protection of persons in detention adopted on 6 March 1997. The stated aim of the law is to reduce maximum periods of detention to a level compatible with European and international standards. In the case of ordinary crimes, it requires a detainee to be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, and if the public prosecutor wishes to prolong the detention in order to conclude investigations, he must obtain the consent of the magistrate. For crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the State Security Courts, the period within which the suspect must be brought before a judge is 48 hours, but the public prosecutor may order this to be prolonged for up to four days if there are difficulties in collecting evidence, or for other similar reasons. Any further extension may only be obtained with the permission of the judge, up to a maximum of seven days, with the exception of regions under the state of emergency, where the judge may extend the period up to 10 days. Other provisions of the law include limitation of the jurisdiction of the State Security Court to crimes against the integrity and authority of the State, and the right of the detainee to see a lawyer at any time. The judge may choose to withold information from the detainee where he thinks it “appropriate”, at least until a public case is begun, and the judge or a substitute may also be present during the meeting with the lawyer if required by the cause of arrest. It was also reported that emphasis would be placed on the practical implementation of this law, that a committee would be established to monitor its implementation, and that instructions had been given to governors and provincial police directorates to prevent ill-treatment of suspects. 190. The Government also provided the Special Rapporteur with some information about alleged activities of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), as presented in an article from the Observer newspaper of 28 September 1997.