those seeking and receiving medical care; however no entry examination was performed. (l) Confessions made by persons in custody without the presence of a lawyer and that are not confirmed before a judge shall not be admissible as evidence against the persons who made the confession. Serious consideration should be given to video and audio taping of interrogations, including of all persons present A confession could be accepted as the only evidence in a case if the court was convinced that it was made voluntarily and willingly (article 159 CCP). The Court of Cassation has overturned a number of convictions on the grounds that security officials had obtained confessions from defendants under torture. The Court of Cassation has issued several rulings with regard to confessions made as a result of violence: e.g. ruling No. 1513/2003 of 4 May 2006, which held that “statements obtained as a result of violence and coercion cannot be relied upon to convict a defendant”; there were still a number of cases where “confessions” allegedly extracted under torture or other forms of duress continue to be admitted as evidence, especially by the State Security Court. There were no developments in this regard. (m) All allegations of torture and illtreatment be promptly and thoroughly investigated by an independent authority with no connection to the authority investigating or prosecuting the case against the alleged victim No ex officio investigations were undertaken even in the face of serious injuries sustained by a criminal suspect. A prosecutor appointed by the director of the PSD, who is at the same time an official of the PSD, carries out investigations into allegations of torture and illtreatment against officials and prosecutes them in a police court staffed by judges who are PSD officials appointed by the PSD director as well. Non-governmental sources: Independent investigations are carried out by the NCHR, who can then refer cases to the PSD, but it lacks the power to refer them directly to the courts. Impunity was total. Following encouragements by the international community and HE King Abdullah, the police prosecutor brought charges of “beatings leading to death” against prison guards in Aqaba, who beat a detainee to death in The PSD carried out some investigations into complaints of torture and ill-treatment; however, the results of the investigations are in general rather modest. A/HRC/13/39/Add.6 90 not effective in practice.