CAT/C/MAR/CO/4 and conviction. The Committee notes with concern that convictions in numerous criminal cases, including terrorism cases, are based on confessions, thus creating conditions that may provide more scope for the torture and ill-treatment of suspects (arts. 2 and 15). The State party should take all steps necessary to ensure that criminal convictions are based on evidence other than the confession of the persons charged, especially when such persons retract their confessions during the trial, and to make certain that, except in cases involving charges of torture, statements made under torture are not invoked as evidence in any proceedings, in accordance with the Convention. The State party is requested to review criminal convictions that have been based solely on confessions in order to identify cases in which the conviction was based on confessions obtained under torture or ill-treatment. The State party is also invited to take the appropriate remedial measures and to inform the Committee of its findings. Monitoring and inspection of places of detention 18. The Committee takes note of the detailed information provided by the State party concerning the different types of visits paid to places of detention by the Crown Prosecutor, various judges, members of provincial prison oversight commissions and representatives of the National Human Rights Council. It also takes note of the draft amendments under which the National Human Rights Council would be designated as the country’s national preventive mechanism in conjunction with the forthcoming accession by Morocco to the Optional Protocol to the Convention. The Committee is nonetheless concerned by the fact that several non-governmental organizations that wished to gain entry to prison facilities as observers were refused access to detention centres. It seems that, under article 620 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, such visits may be conducted only by the provincial commissions. It also regrets the lack of information about the follow-up to and results of the visits that have been conducted (arts. 11 and 16). The State party should ensure that the national mechanism for monitoring places of detention is capable of carrying out effective inspections and oversight of all places of detention and should ensure that action is taken to follow up on the results of that monitoring process. This mechanism should provide for regular and unannounced visits by national and international observers in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading forms of treatment or punishment. The State party should also ensure that forensic doctors trained to detect signs of torture are present during those visits. In addition, the State party should amend its laws so that nongovernmental organizations may also make unrestricted, regular, independent, unannounced visits to places of detention. Prison conditions 19. The Committee takes note with satisfaction of the information provided by the State party concerning its plan for building and renovating prison facilities, which is likely to have led to some improvement in prison conditions. The Committee nonetheless remains concerned about the fact that, according to the information in its possession, conditions in most prisons are still alarming owing to overcrowding, ill-treatment and the disciplinary measures employed (including long periods of incommunicado detention), unsanitary conditions, inadequate food and limited access to medical care. The Committee is concerned about the fact that these conditions have prompted some prisoners to hold hunger strikes and others to rebel and stage protests that are violently suppressed by prison guards (arts. 11 and 16). 8 GE.11-47997