A/HRC/19/61/Add.4 (b) JUA 30/05/2011 Case No. NGA 2/2011 State reply: None to date Alleged arbitrary detention. 121. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of Nigeria has not responded to this communication, thereby failing to cooperate with the mandate issued by the Human Rights Council. The communication referred, inter alia, to the alleged ill-treatment of Mr. Mallam Aliyu Tasheku while in detention, including denial of access to health care. The Special Rapporteur again calls on the Government to provide information regarding the legal grounds for the re-arrest and detention of Mr. Tasheku and the results of any investigation into his alleged mistreatment. Oman JUA 28/04/2011 Case No. OMN 1/2011 State reply: 06/06/2011 Alleged killings and detention of protesters in the context of peaceful demonstrations. 122. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Oman for its reply, dated 6 June 2011, to this communication in reference to the alleged killings of Mr. Abdullah alGhamalasi and one other, the detention and torture of Messrs. Ahmed al-Shezawi and Abdul Gufar al-Shewazi, and the incommunicado detention of nine protesters including Messrs. Ali al-Badi and Hilal al-Alawi during the demonstrations of 29 March 2011. In its response, the Government of Oman indicated that one person was killed during the protests and confirmed that detainees have been placed in solitary confinement, including Mr. alAlawi, who the Government indicates was charged with forcibly preventing the public authorities from doing their work, resisting arrest, possession of an unlicensed firearm, and disrupting public traffic. The Government reported that “a few people have been placed in solitary confinement [...] as they had to be separated from the others to stop them from colluding with each other in order to come up with a common version of the events.” The Government indicated that “solitary confinement” is governed by the Code of Criminal Procedure, and allows isolation of an accused from other detainees without prejudice to the right to remain in contact with the accused's defense lawyer. The Government also indicated that two cases have gone to criminal courts, and that a judge decided to release Hilal al-Alawi and Ali al-Badi on 18 May 2011, along with others who were “charged with the lesser offense.” However, the Government responded that the remaining defendants are still in pretrial detention, and indicated that compensation has not been provided to the victims as the case is “still under investigation.” The Special Rapporteur notes that the practice of solitary confinement can amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or torture, particularly when used during pre-trial detention, due to the punitive nature of solitary confinement and the pain and suffering it may inflict on the accused. In this context, the Special Rapporteur draws the Government's attention to article 7 of the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, which provides that “efforts addressed to the abolition of solitary confinement as a punishment, or to the restriction of its use, should be undertaken and encouraged.” (Adopted by the General Assembly by Resolution 45/111 of 14 December 1990.) The Special Rapporteur reminds the Government that , per paragraph 8(b) of Human Rights Council Resolution 16/23 of 12 April 2011, “[p]rolonged incommunicado detention or detention in secret places can facilitate the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and can in itself constitute a form of such treatment, and urges all States to respect the safeguards concerning the liberty, security and the dignity of the person and to ensure that secret places of detention and interrogation are abolished.”. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government of Oman to ensure a prompt and independent investigation of all possible cases of torture, leading to prosecution of perpetrators, and to provide redress to all victims of ill-treatment or torture. In order to ensure non-repetition of these acts, the Special 53