E/CN.A/1992/17 page 49 Malawi Urgent appeals 146. On 12 November 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Malawi concerning the arrest in May 1991 of Kumwenda, Christopher Mwenelupembe and John Nyenga. Kumwenda, a prison warder, was arrested after being discovered smuggling letters from Orton Chirwa, leader of the exiled Malawi Freedom Movement (MAFREMO), out of Zamba Central Prison. Christopher Mwenelupembe and John Nyenga were apparently supporters of Orton Chirwa and were alleged to have received the letters and smuggled them to neighbouring Tanzania. According to the information received, all three could at that time have been detained in an underground cell at Kanengo prison in Lilongue and fears were expressed that they might have been subjected to torture. The information received also indicated that after the letters were discovered, Orton Chirwa was kept in his cell for two days with both legs and arms in irons, and was forced to squat on the floor with arm- and leg-irons chained to a metal rod behind his knees; as a result of this punishment he was reported to be in extremely poor physical condition. Malaysia Urgent appeals 147. On 12 November 1991 the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Malaysia concerning Aaron Cohen Shelton, a citizen of New Zealand, aged 24, who was reported to have been sentenced on 1 September 1991 to life imprisonment and ordered to be whipped six times under Malaysia's Dangerous Drugs Act. It was further reported that on 29 October 1991, the Supreme Court in Kuala Lumpur upheld a High Court decision not to exempt Mr. Shelton from being whipped six times. Fears were expressed that the whipping was imminent. Mauritania Urgent appeals 148. On 21 December 1990, the Special Rapporteur addressed an urgent appeal to the Government of Mauritania transmitting information concerning Sy Abdoulaye Maliker, Ly Moussa, Diallo Alassane, Kane Hamedine, Kane Amadou Racine, Dia Aliou, Sarr Ibrahima, Ba Moctar, Thierno Yacoub Ba, Dieng Dioulde, Oumar Djol and Gaye Saidou. Those individuals are allegedly among a few hundred persons belonging to the Hal-Pulaar ethnic group who have been arrested since mid-November 1990, without charges, at the Sixth Military Region headquarters or the J'reida Barracks. According to information received, a large number of these prisoners were tortured and 15 of them allegedly died under torture, including Mr. Gaye Saidou, a navy officer. It has also been alleged that Mr. Thierno Yacoub Ba, former Governor of Rosso-Mauritania, was severely beaten by gendarmes when he was arrested on 5 December 1990, received no medical care and was taken away to an unknown destination.