E/CN.4/1995/34 page 130 Sudan Information transmitted to the Government 679. By letter dated 11 July 1994 the Special Rapporteur informed the Government that he had continued to receive reports indicating that torture was practised widely by the police and security forces. Persons detained for political reasons were said to be particularly vulnerable to torture. Many such detainees were allegedly held incommunicado for prolonged periods in secret detention centres known as "ghost houses". 680. The Special Rapporteur also transmitted the cases summarized in the following paragraphs. 681. Mustafa Siri Suliman, secretary general of the Omdurman Ahlia University Students’ Union, was reportedly detained by security forces on 27 November 1993 and held in a "ghost house" and tortured. 682. Osman Omer El-Sharief, an MP who had formerly held governmental posts as Minister for Housing, Minister of Justice, and Attorney General, was reportedly arrested on 17 February 1994 in Wad Medani, held for 11 days and then transferred to Khartoum. He was thereafter allegedly detained in a "ghost house", subjected to torture and denied medical care. He had previously been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment after the 1989 coup d’état, but had been released after serving two years. 683. Brigadier (retired) Mohammed Ahmed al-Rayah al-Faki, aged 52, was reportedly arrested on 20 August 1991 by security officers, tortured in detention, tried on 23 September 1991 by a secret military tribunal and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. During an 18-month stay in Shalla prison in Darfur, he was allegedly subjected to a variety of forms of torture, including prolonged blindfolding, severe beatings, hosing with hot and cold water, being chained and suspended for periods of up to two days, and being locked for prolonged periods in toilets. He was also allegedly subjected to abuses by a particular official, including rape, having his testicles crushed and genitalia pulled by pliers, having a stick placed between his legs while having his body bent back and being beaten severely on the stomach, and being subjected to electric shocks and cigarette burns. As a result of his ordeal, he was said to have suffered chronic headaches, a seizure, the loss of his left testicle, difficulty in moving his bowels, a slipped disc in the back, temporary paralysis of the left leg, the loss of teeth, damage to the salivary glands and deterioration of his eyesight. In May 1993, after having been transferred to Kober prison, he was taken to hospital for treatment, but was forcibly removed by security forces against the objections of the physician and eventually transferred to Suakin prison. In October 1993 Brigadier Mohamed al-Rayah and five other prisoners, including former Minister for Religious Affairs Abdel Rahman Abdallah Nugdalla, Major General Bushra Ahmed Rahama, Col. Shakir Shams el-Din, Brig. Hashim el-Kheir Hashim, and Ali Dahab Hassanein were reportedly being transferred from Suakin to Port Sudan hospital for treatment following severe torture in