E/CN.4/2000/9/Add.5
page 10
was not suitable for group treatment. The prison authorities had carefully examined each time
the necessity of placing him in solitary confinement and had only used force against him, applied
handcuffs and placed him in the protection room, in compliance with laws and regulations, when
he was likely to act violently and injure himself. Yoshitaka Hiura filed a suit at the Tokyo
District Court which was rejected on 25 February 1999. He appealed and the case was pending
at the Tokyo High Court at the time of the government response. He also filed a complaint with
the Yokohama District Public Prosecutor, who decided on 10 December 1999 not to institute
proceedings.
42.
Concerning Zhou Bizhu (ibid., para. 679), the Government stated that she had been
detained in the Tokyo Detention House on 2 April 1997 as a defendant accused of violating
immigration laws. On admission to the detention facility, she underwent a medical examination
by a doctor and was informed about the procedures for receiving medical care. The procedures
entailed that every detainee was asked twice a week whether they wanted to see a doctor and that
doctors could be seen any time. The medical examination found inter alia that Zhou Bizhu was
suffering from stomach pains and serious vomiting caused by her pregnancy, but that she was
not suffering from abdominal pain. The doctor recommended that she should be fed by
intravenous drip infusions. On 3 April 1997 she was given three intravenous drug infusions.
The intravenous cannula was removed on the same day upon her request not to be given further
infusions. On 4 April, Zhou Bizhou was placed on a normal diet and infusions were no longer
found to be necessary. On 6 April, she complained of a pain in her lower back and diarrohea.
Her doctor advised that she should be kept under continuous observation. At the Kukuyabashi
Gynecological Hospital she was told by a doctor that the heartbeat of her foetus could not be felt.
A subsequent ultrasonic tomography and a urine test at Shorakudo Hospital led to the diagnosis
of possible foetal death, which was subsequently confirmed by a further examination on
25 April. On the same day, her sentence was suspended and she was released from Tokyo
Detention House. Zhou Bizhu is suing the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as well as the
Tokyo Detention House for medical negligence in relation to the treatment administered and the
examination received at Kikuyabashi jail. Her lawsuit for damages was still pending at the
Tokyo District Court at the time of the government reply.
43.
Concerning Yahaya Radwan Allam (ibid., para. 680), the Government stated that he had
complained about an itch affecting his whole body on 20 September 1993, diagnosed as “most
probably scabies”, for which he had received medical treatment and from which he had
completely recovered by 6 January 1994. He was moved from his cell to another single cell on
27 October 1993 for the purpose of interrogation in solitary confinement after he had been
caught talking with another detainee in an adjacent cell. The Government denied that he had
been placed in an unsanitary cell since cells were cleaned by inmates themselves and prison
staff, pursuant to the Prison Law, and since intensive sterilization could be carried out on
request. On 17 March 1994, he separated bound legal documents into volumes without
submitting a request form to the prison authorities as required, thereby committing a
disciplinary offence. He was reprimanded and shortly thereafter threatened prison officers,
who subsequently restrained him and placed him in a protection room for one day. He saw a
doctor during and after confinement in the protection room who found abrasions on his left
arm and bruises on the left side which seemed consistent with the force used. No other
injuries were found. The Government stated that he had complained of pus and decreased
audibility in his right ear on 10 December 1993. He had subsequently been diagnosed by an