E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.4 page 5 despite magistrates’ orders. According to NGOs, scores of prisoners died, the majority from infectious diseases resulting from overcrowding and shortage of food, clean water and basic medication. It was reported that over 630 prisoners died in 1997.1 11. During his mission, the Special Rapporteur received information from non-governmental sources and a very large number of accounts by alleged torture victims or witnesses, of which a selection is reproduced in the annex to this report, indicating that torture is widespread and used indiscriminately against many people under arrest. However, it appears that most cases are not reported to the relevant authorities because of ignorance, lack of judicial assistance or fear of reprisals. Beatings appeared to be the most common practice. The purpose of those acts was allegedly to extract confessions or bribes, to punish or intimidate individuals suspected of having committed a crime. A number of deaths in custody allegedly as a result of torture were also reported. 12. According to the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), 98 per cent of injuries documented in approximately 400 cases referred to it between September 1998 and August 1999 were musculo-skeletal injuries allegedly mainly caused by beatings with blunt objects. Twenty-five per cent of the patients had sustained neurological injuries affecting their vision or hearing. Victims of torture were said to range in age from 7 to 97 years, with the majority of cases referred concerning young men between 20 and 35 yearsof age. IMLU also reported that it had carried out 40 post-mortems of death in police custody of which 36 allegedly showed the cause of death to be internal injuries suffered as a consequence of external trauma. 13. All officials met by the Special Rapporteur, in particular the Minister of State in charge of Internal Affairs and the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, affirmed that the Government does not condone torture, but admitted at the same time that some law enforcement officials may from time to time overreact. In particular, they stressed the problem of the level of violence, especially armed violence, that the police had to face. They explained to the Special Rapporteur that police officers, sometimes ill-equipped, had therefore to use force on some occasions in order to defend themselves. They assured the Special Rapporteur that in all cases where there appeared to have been an overreaction by law enforcement officials, the Government was committed to taking all relevant measures. In their opinion, police violence was nevertheless not a widespread phenomenon. 14. The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs emphasized that Kenya was in the midst of changes supported by the Government and the President himself, but that it would certainly take time for old habits to change. Similarly, the Head of the Civil Service recognized that the rough treatment of those arrested or detained was culturally accepted, or even supported, by the population. But he also emphasized that there was a genuine commitment from the highest authorities of the country to eradicate this phenomenon and that, in his opinion, major changes had already occurred in the past five years. Some NGOs confirmed that violence is a culturally accepted practice in Kenya and therefore emphasized the need to educate the public. A large number of their activities are devoted to this. 15. According to all the Special Rappporteur’s interlocutors, including non-governmental ones, cases of torture of political detainees had considerably diminished since the establishment of a multi-party political system in the early 1990s. The National Intelligence Service, known as