E/CN.4/1997/7/Add.2 page 8 requested the Special Rapporteur to come to FIA headquarters to receive authorization to enter the premises. The Special Rapporteur reiterated his view that the authorization could be conveyed by telephone. 25. While the Special Rapporteur waited for the authorization, a member of the delegation spoke with private citizens close by the house. These individuals informed the member of the delegation that the detainees were held only in the basement. They also indicated that approximately 16 individuals were currently being held there and that there were armed guards on the roof of the house and inside, in addition to the two armed guards stationed outside the front door. A member of the delegation counted some eight policemen in the yard between the door and the gate during the period the delegation was there. 26. After one and a half hours a bus and two four-wheel vehicles arrived at the house. The Special Rapporteur could only assume that these vehicles had been sent to transport prisoners detained inside the house. After two hours the Special Rapporteur decided that it was futile to remain any longer as it had become clear that authorization to enter the house was being denied at the highest level of the Ministry of the Interior. 27. The Special Rapporteur immediately met with the Secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest at the denial of access to the house, which he considered to be a clear violation of the terms of reference of the mission. These officials indicated that the Special Rapporteur was free to return to the house and inspect the premises. This offer was reiterated in a later telephone conversation with Senator Iqbal Haider. The Special Rapporteur considered that to return to the house would serve no useful purpose. 28. The Special Rapporteur subsequently received further information indicating that FIA operates incommunicado detention centres or "safe houses" in Islamabad. Dr. Munawar A. Halepota, Secretary-General of the World Sindhi Congress and Human Rights International, provided testimony to the Special Rapporteur that he was arrested without charge on 28 November 1995 and initially held in the Tando Allahyar police station for two days. He was then transferred on 30 November to the Central Investigation Agency Centre in Hyderabad. On 4 December he was handed over to FIA and transferred to Islamabad for further interrogation. From 4 to 18 December, Dr. Halepota was held in FIA custody at a "safe house" between Islamabad and Faizabad. Based upon the description provided by Dr. Halepota, the Special Rapporteur believes this facility to be the one to which he was denied access during his mission. Dr. Halepota was subsequently deported from Pakistan to the United Kingdom. 29. The treatment received by Dr. Halepota was the same as that received by the individual who provided testimony to the Special Rapporteur on the FIA "safe house". In both cases, the detainees were kept in a dark, cold, damp room in the basement, which, Dr. Halepota testified, is referred to as the "refrigerator". Both were made to sleep on a concrete floor. Dr. Halepota informed the Special Rapporteur that during his detention many Egyptians were held in the "safe house" in connection with the embassy bombing that occurred in 1995. He claims that they were taken regularly to be tortured.