A/HRC/7/3/Add.7 page 11 15. While in principle welcoming the fact that these laws refer to torture, the Special Rapporteur observes that the Law on Human Rights 39/1999 does not provide any effective mechanisms for dealing with individual complaints. This is due to the fact that the application of Law 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts is restricted to cases involving “gross violations of human rights”, which were consistently interpreted as “crimes against humanity”3 requiring “a broad and systematic attack against civilians … in form of torture …”4. Due to this interpretation of the term “gross”, which in the Special Rapporteur’s opinion does not reflect the prevailing opinion under international law, individual cases cannot be tried by Human Rights Courts. 16. Legal provisions relating to complaints, investigations of torture allegations and safeguards are discussed in section III below. 3. Sharia provisions in Aceh’s Criminal Code 17. The Special Rapporteur is concerned about penalties provided for by Sharia law, such as public flogging, incorporated into the 2005 Aceh Criminal Code following the special autonomy status agreed in the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding. These local regulations criminalize the consumption of alcohol, closed proximity between unwed couples, and gambling, and penalize them by flogging. Corporal punishment constitutes degrading and inhuman treatment in violation of article 7 ICCPR and article 16 CAT and should therefore be abolished. These morality offences under Sharia law are normally tried in public hearings, at which the audience can shout at the defendant, which renders the presumption of innocence meaningless. Moreover, punishments are carried out in public and are often televised. II. TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT A. Torture and ill-treatment in places of detention Penitentiary institutions 18. The Special Rapporteur has received a limited number of allegations of ill-treatment in both pretrial detention houses and prisons, notably allegations corroborated by forensic medical evidence as well as confirmed by open acknowledgements of prison officials that corporal punishment is executed in a number of facilities. It is worth noting that in Pasir Putih maximum security prison there was not one allegation of abuse. 19. The Special Rapporteur found allegations and evidence of several cases of beatings by guards, often in relation to attempts to escape and violations of prison rules. In several prisons, such as Makassar, Pondok Bambu (Jakarta), the beatings appeared to take place publicly, in front of other detainees. Furthermore, allegations of beatings were voiced in the prisons of Wamena and Abepura (both Papua) as well as Cipinang (Jakarta) and Yogyakarta. The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned that he found evidence of regular corporal punishment of minors in 3 Law 26/2000 Establishing the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court, art. 7. 4 Law 26/2000 Establishing the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court, art. 9.