A/59/324 diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities”.4 20. The status and conditions of detention of persons suspected of terrorism also remain subjects of great concern, not only for the Special Rapporteur on torture, but also for the other mandate-holders of the Commission on Human Rights. In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, thousands of persons suspected of terrorism, including children, have been detained, denied the opportunity to have their legal status determined and prevented from having access to lawyers. Some of them are said to be still held in solitary confinement, which in itself may constitute a violation of the right to be free from torture.5 In July 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed its concern that an unknown number of people continued to be detained outside any legal framework. 21. In this context, the Special Rapporteur refers to the joint statement adopted on the final day of the meeting of the special procedures of the Commission on the protection of human rights in the context of anti-terrorism measures, which included a request that the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and the Special Rapporteur on torture visit persons detained on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the military base at Guantanamo Bay (see E/CN.4/2005/5, annex I). 22. The Special Rapporteur wishes to reiterate that the maintenance of secret places of detention should be abolished under law and that it should be a punishable offence for any official to hold a person in a secret and/or unofficial place of detention. He also recalls Commission on Human Rights resolution 2004/41, in which the Commission reminded all States that prolonged incommunicado detention could facilitate the perpetration of torture and could in itself constitute a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or even torture, and urged all States to respect the safeguards concerning the liberty, security and dignity of the person. It should also be stressed that although the status of detainees may remain unclear, there is no uncertainty as to the international obligations, standards and protections that apply to them, the prohibition of torture being applicable to all individuals without exception and without discrimination, regardless of their legal status. The Special Rapporteur wishes to repeat his earlier recommendation that all detained persons should be given the ability to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, e.g. through habeas corpus or amparo, and that such procedure should function expeditiously (see E/CN.4/2004/56, para. 39). 23. The Special Rapporteur is seriously concerned about recent reports that some national authorities have deemed evidence that may have been obtained under torture admissible in judicial proceedings. It should be recalled that according to article 15 of the Convention against Torture, States Parties shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made. The Committee against Torture has stated that “the existence, in procedural legislation, of detailed provisions on the inadmissibility of unlawfully obtained confessions and other tainted evidence” is one of the essential means of preventing torture (A/54/44, para. 45). 7