E/CN.4/1995/34 page 15 programme. The forms of abuse included beatings on the soles of the feet, wet bags over the head to simulate suffocation, enforced sitting or standing in one position for hours and at least one case of rape. 57. By the same letter the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1993 regarding which no reply had been received. Belgium Urgent appeals transmitted and replies received 58. The Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government on 18 March 1994 concerning two Zairian nationals who were under medical and psychotherapeutic treatment in Belgium and had received or were about to receive orders to leave the country. Mrs. Annette Eyambo was reportedly arrested on 16 April 1992 after having taken part in a working women’s march in Kinshasa. She was allegedly beaten, then imprisoned and severely tortured and raped. After two weeks she escaped and a few months later arrived in Belgium. Mrs. Manni Ifeka was reportedly arrested in Kinshasa on 16 February 1992 while participating in a Christians for Peace march. She spent eight months in detention, during which time she was severely tortured and raped, as a result of which she became pregnant. Fears were expressed that the two women would be in danger of arrest and torture if they were sent back to their country of origin. 59. On 9 August 1994 the Government replied that refugee status in Belgium was granted to asylum seekers who met the requirements set forth in article 1 (2) of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. As a general matter, when doubt existed in the case of an asylum seeker, refugee status was usually granted. In the case of Ifeka Mesongolo Mamie, the Commissioner General making a decision on the merits of her asyum claim transmitted an unfavourable opinion based on a number of factors: that a person claiming to have been imprisoned for seven months should be able to describe the place of imprisonment; that someone participating in a political demonstration should be able to give reasons for doing so; and that reason existed to believe that Ifeka Mamie was in fact a person of another name born in Belgium, not Zaire. As to the case of Eyambe Lomani, the Commissioner General transmitted an unfavourable opinion based on inconsistencies and lack of truthfulness in her story, including her placing the demonstration two months after it took place. 60. The Government also stated that it did not deny that the two women had been the victims of sexual abuse, but that the conditions under which that abuse had occurred did not make it possible to grant them asylum status. For compelling reasons such as state of health and the need to continue treatment in Belgium, the order to leave the territory issued to Mrs. Lomani was extended for six months.