E/CN.4/1998/38 page 19 Ecuador 88. The Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal on behalf of a group of prisoners. In addition, he received a reply from the Government on cases transmitted in 1995. Egypt 89. By letter dated 28 April 1997, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information indicating that torture of persons detained for political reasons continued to take place on a systematic basis. In addition, the use of torture against persons detained in ordinary criminal cases was said to occur with frequency. Torture was reported to be carried out in the State Security Investigations Department (SSI) headquarters in Lazoghly Square, SSI branches throughout the country, police stations and Firaq al-Amn (security brigades), where detainees were said to be held incommunicado. The methods of torture reported include the administration of electric shocks, beatings, suspension by the wrists or ankles, burning the body with cigarettes, threats of rape or sexual abuse to the detainee or to female relatives in his presence. 90. The Special Rapporteur also advised the Government that he had continued to receive information according to which conditions of a number of prisons were said to be extremely poor. On the whole, the prison system was said to be characterized by the use of torture and other ill-treatment as a means of discipline and punishment, the prevalence of contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, lack of adequate medical care for prisoners and bans on visits from relatives and lawyers. In this connection, particular allegations had been received in respect of the High Security Prison (Al-Aqrab or the Scorpion). Prisoners were said to receive insufficient quantities of food and the food received was said typically to be served from filthy buckets and often infested with insects. Tuberculosis was reported to be widespread inside the prison. Prisoners requiring hospitalization or specialized tests such as x-rays were said to be denied access to such medical care, even upon the recommendation of the prison doctor. According to a decision taken by the Minister of the Interior on 20 December 1993, the prison was said to be considered "closed", meaning that visits of families and relatives are banned. The Administrative Court was said to have issued five rulings cancelling the closing decision, none of which were reportedly complied with by the Ministry of the Interior. Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners was reportedly widespread at the High Security Prison. Inmates were said to undergo "reception parties" at Fayyom Prison upon entering (see E/CN.4/1997/7, para. 71). 91. By the same letter the Special Rapporteur communicated to the Government nine newly reported cases, some of them collective, on behalf of 12 individuals and a group of 100 prisoners. He also sought follow-up information on two previous cases, involving 53 individuals, and retransmitted a number of previously transmitted allegations to which he had not yet received a reply. The Special Rapporteur further transmitted two urgent appeals on behalf of the same four individuals. One appeal also raised the case of a group of 250 farmers.