A/HRC/7/3/Add.2 page 57 243. Recommendation (b) stated: The highest authorities, particularly those responsible for law enforcement activities, declare unambiguously that the culture of impunity must end and that torture and ill-treatment by public officials will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted. The message should be spread that torture is an extremely serious crime which will be punished with severe (long-term) prison sentences; 244. According to non-governmental sources, torture continues to be widespread in holding facilities and in the general prisons. Ill-treatment continues to take place in the GID. There has been a growing awareness and public discussion of Jordan’s torture problem. However, little legislative reform has taken place, and institutional reform focuses on training and new prisons rather than effective mechanisms of prevention or discovery and prosecution of perpetrators. The prison reform currently being discussed and, at the training the trainers stage, being implemented, should be publicly discussed with local NGOs and the Jordanian Lawyers’ Association, and reviewed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to ensure it incorporates the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations. The April 2009 Universal Periodic Review of Jordan as a member of the Human Rights Council should provide an opportunity to discuss further implementation of these recommendations. The question of impunity is crucial to preventing torture in Jordan. More scrutiny should be put on the work of police prosecutors and the judges of the police court, as well as the various failures of ordinary prosecutors and judges when faced with allegations of abuse. 245. According to non-governmental sources, Public Security Directorate (PSD) officials reported that, HE King Abdullah and the director of the PSD, Lt. Gen Muhammad Mahmud al-‘Aitan issued clear instructions that there was to be no torture. However, such declarations have not been made public, nor have they included a commitment to prosecute perpetrators and to end impunity. According to nongovernmental sources, the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) has issued written and oral instructions addressed to all personnel to refrain from abusing any detainee physically, verbally or emotionally, and providing for an increase in penalties for violations. 246. Recommendation (c) stated: The crime of torture be defined as a matter of priority in accordance with article 1 of the Convention against Torture, with penalties commensurate with the gravity of torture; 247. According to non-governmental sources, article 208 of the Penal Code, amended by temporary law No. 49 of 2007, reflects the definition of torture contained in article 1 CAT, and calls for an increase in the minimum prison sentence of three months to six months for perpetrators, and alternative and discretionary sentencing has been restricted, in this regard. Courts have been expressly prohibited from taking into account mitigating circumstances. Further, they are not permitted to impose suspended sentences. The text of article 208, as amended: