12 EL HASKI v. BELGIUM JUDGMENT allegations of torture, despite their number and frequency, rarely give rise to investigations and prosecution and that a climate of impunity appears to have taken hold, given the failure to impose genuine disciplinary measures or to bring any significant number of criminal cases against State officials accused of committing acts specified in the Convention, including the gross, large-scale human rights violations that took place between 1956 and 1999 (arts. 2, 4 and 12). The State party should ensure that any and all allegations of torture and of illtreatment are promptly, effectively and impartially investigated and that the persons who have committed such acts are prosecuted and are given sentences that are commensurate with the grave nature of their acts, as provided for in article 4 of the Convention. The State party should also amend its laws in order to explicitly stipulate that an order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture. The State party should also take steps to ensure that complainants and witnesses are effectively protected from any ill-treatment or act of intimidation related to their complaint or testimony. Coerced confessions 17. The Committee is concerned by the fact that, under the State party’s current system of investigation, confessions are commonly used as evidence for purposes of prosecution and conviction. The Committee notes with concern that convictions in numerous criminal cases, including terrorism cases, are based on confessions, thus creating conditions that may provide more scope for the torture and ill-treatment of suspects (arts. 2 and 15). The State party should take all steps necessary to ensure that criminal convictions are based on evidence other than the confession of the persons charged, especially when such persons retract their confessions during the trial, and to make certain that, except in cases involving charges of torture, statements made under torture are not invoked as evidence in any proceedings, in accordance with the Convention. The State party is requested to review criminal convictions that have been based solely on confessions in order to identify cases in which the conviction was based on confessions obtained under torture or ill-treatment. The State party is also invited to take the appropriate remedial measures and to inform the Committee of its findings. ...” 52. In its final observations (CCPR/CO/82/MAR; 1 December 2004) on the fifth periodic report of Morocco, the United Nations Human Rights Committee was concerned, in particular, about “the numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees” and “the fact that the officials who [were] guilty of such acts [were] generally liable to disciplinary action only, where any sanction exist[ed]”. It further “note[d] with concern that no independent inquiries [were] conducted in police stations and other places of detention in order to guarantee that no torture or ill-treatment [took] place” (§ 14). The Committee also observed with concern that the independence of the judiciary was not fully guaranteed (§ 19) and that, according to numerous reports, the Terrorism Act of 28 May 2003 was being applied retroactively.