E/CN.A/1990/17 page 5 III. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR A. Urgent action 19. During the period covered by the present report, the Special Rapporteur continued to receive requests for urgent action or information containing elements which, he deemed,.justified 6uch 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. The Special Rapporteur brought 51 of these cases to the immediate attention of the respective Governments and appealed to them, 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. 20. Appeals were 6ent to the following Governments: Benin, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Israel, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Zaire. 21. The following Governments replied to the appeals for urgent action addressed to them by the Special Rapporteur: Benin, Chile, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Myanmar, Panama, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sudan, Turkey. 22. Further details on the contents of the appeals and of government replies thereto received by 20 December 1989 are given in section B below, entitled "Correspondence with Governments". B. Correspondence with Governments Algeria 23. On 6 April 1989 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Government of Algeria transmitting information alleging that violations of human rights had occurred in Algeria following the riots in October 1988, mainly in the form of arbitrary arrests and torture. 2k. According to the information, various law enforcement agencies, civilian as well as military, practised torture as a matter of routine. In certain places, torture sessions are reported to have taken place in the presence of the civil authorities. Also, in some places doctors and paramedical staff are alleged to have assisted the torturers. 25. The methods of torture alleged to have been used consisted mainly of corporal punishment, sexual violence, electrodes applied to all part6 of the body, cigarette burns, the forcible administration of harmful liquids and harmful substances and various humiliations. This torture was practised inter alia at the military camp of Sidi-Ferruch and the police station at Boufarik.