E/CN.4/1992/17 page 6 II. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR A. Urgent action 20. During the period covered by the present report, the Special Rapporteur continued to receive increasing numbers of requests for urgent action or information containing elements which, he deemed, justified such urgent action. These requests principally concerned persons who were allegedly being subjected to torture, or regarding whom fears were expressed that they may be subjected to torture, usually while being held incommunicado in police or army custody, or during interrogation. Following such requests, the Special Rapporteur addressed 64 urgent messages, each of them concerning one or several persons, for the immediate attention of the respective Governments. In doing so, he appealed to these Governments, on a purely humanitarian basis, to ensure that the right to physical and mental integrity of those concerned was protected and that the treatment meted out to them while in detention was humane. 21. Appeals were sent to the Governments of: Bahrain, Burundi, China, Cuba, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Zaire. 22. The Governments of the following countries replied to the appeals for urgent action addressed to them by the Special Rapporteur (including appeals sent previously and reflected in previous reports of the Special Rapporteur): Bahrain, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Greece, Iran (Islamic Republic o f ) , Iraq, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Myanmar, Philippines, South Africa, Sudan, Turkey, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Zaire. B. Implementation of Commission resolution 1991/70 23. In the framework of Commission resolution 1991/70, entitled "Cooperation with representatives of United Nations human rights bodies", the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Turkey on 11 September 1991 concerning Yavuz Binbay, president of the Turkish Human Rights Association and member of the Executive Committee of that organization at the national level, who had been reporting regularly on the human rights situation in that region. According to the information received he was orally threatened by members of the Security Department in the city of Van in April 1989 and in March 1990. After the threats, he reportedly had two car accidents under circumstances which he believed were provoked. It was further alleged that he was under permanent surveillance by members of the MIT (a security service) and by local members of the Security Department. Given the fact that in the past he had been imprisoned and subjected to torture, fear was expressed that he could again be arrested and ill-treated. 24. The Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, by letter dated 6 August 1991, information received on the arrest and subsequent alleged torture of Mr. Massoud Afravi, soon after he met the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. R. Galindo-Pohl, during the latter's visit to Tehran in January 1990.