E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.1 page 121 638. The Special Rapporteur also informed the Government that he had received reports according to which torture is used by soldiers and military intelligence officers to extract information from civilians in the course of the conflict with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the Nuba mountains. Detainees held in army garrisons were said to be kept for prolonged periods in deep covered holes, tied up without food and little water. The rape of women by soldiers and militiamen during the conduct of such operations and in government established "peace camps" was reported to be widespread. 639. The Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government the individual cases in the Nuba mountains summarized in the paragraphs below. 640. Barnaba Abdel Rahman Abu Salah was reportedly beaten and taken to the garrison at Um Sirdiba by soldiers who had approached him on his farm in Karkaraya on 3 May 1995. After he denied being a member of the SPLA, the soldiers allegedly tied his hands behind his back to his feet and threw him into a deep pit. (There were reported to be a number of such pits at the garrison, each containing a prisoner.) He was then dragged out and thrown back into the pit six times in succession, after which the soldiers allegedly beat him on his testicles with a stick, walked on his chest with their boots, forced a stone into his mouth and interrogated him with a gun to his neck. The beatings thereafter continued and he bled from his eyes as a result. He was reportedly thrown back into the pit, which was covered with a zinc sheet, and was left there for four days with no food and little water. He was released when a relative, who was a policeman, passed through the camp and assured the soldiers that he was not an SPLA member. He was said to suffer permanent injuries as a result of his torture. 641. Hussein Um Dabalo Angalo, a farmer in Nukta village in the Moro hills, and his son, Abdel Majid, were reportedly stopped by soldiers at the garrison bridge on the road from Kadugli to Um Sirdiba in April 1995. Hussein was allegedly subjected to mock executions and beatings with guns and an axe, causing him to bleed on the top of his head and temple. The two detainees were taken to Um Sirdiba garrison and interrogated by military intelligence officers, who tried to get them to confess to SPLA membership. Hussein was allegedly beaten by the sergeant major, Abdallah, with a club on the spot where he had already sustained an axe wound. He and his son were thrown into a pit, which was covered with a sheet of zinc. They were kept in the hole for seven days, only being let out to go to the toilet. Hussein was said to have been denied medical treatment for his injuries. 642. Mahjoub Tiya Kuku, a farmer from Lindu village, was arrested on 18 April 1995 by soldiers under accusation of SPLA membership and taken to the garrison at Turoji. He was tied up and kept in a deep pit with a zinc cover without food and with little water for three days. He was then taken for interrogation, during which the sergeant tried to get him to admit to SPLA membership. 643. By the same letter the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1994 regarding which no reply had been received.