E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6 page 50 her cell to go outside. Over a period of 45 days she was only allowed outside for 10 minutes and she was interrogated 90 times. While she was never physically tortured, she told the Special Rapporteur that guards would torture detainees in adjacent cells in order to scare her into confessing. She said that the most severe suffering which she endured was caused by the fact that she was not allowed to speak to anybody apart from the guards for 2 years and was not allowed to move. She alleges that she overheard a conversation of 2 guards relating to the existence of a ‘water torture chamber’ located in the basement of the facility. While there have been no recent allegations of water torture carried out at this facility, the Special Rapporteur was able to confirm the existence of a well in a below-ground outhouse located in the grounds of the facility similar to that described to him by Rebiya Kadeer which is currently being used to store vegetables. 27. Zhou Hai Zhong, aged 23. He was sentenced to death at first instance on 11 August 2005 for the kidnapping and murder of two children. He is currently awaiting a decision on his appeal. He has been wearing shackles 24 hours per day since after his trial. He spends most of his day in a 19 people cell where he has to sit cross-legged on a mattress listening to a cell mate read aloud the prison regulations and rules. The Special Rapporteur is of the opinion that the continuous shackling of death row prisoners constitutes an imposition of additional punishment without justification, leading to suffering. He recommends this practice be abolished. 28. Evance Orphan Minison, a Malawi national. On 4 June 2005, he was arrested at the airport in Urumqi on suspicion of drug offences, brought directly to a local police station, and immediately confessed to the charges. He has a lawyer but the lawyer is not proficient in English and Mr Minison does not understand Chinese. He was transferred to Liu Dao Wan Detention Centre around 23 October 2005, and is currently awaiting his first instance hearing. He says that the conditions were better in the police station where he was first detained. He is made to sit cross-legged on a mattress with fellow detainees for the most part of the day as a form of re-education. This involves the “chief” of the room (according to prison guards the most educated person in the cell is nominated ‘chief’) reading from a text, normally the prison regulations or the Criminal Code. None of his fellow detainees speaks English and there are no books or newspapers in English. He complained that he was very cold and that while he is sitting he is not allowed to wear his hat to cover his ears. He is not allowed to go outside. He has not been able to contact his family. The Special Rapporteur recommended that he be provided with a lawyer who speaks English, with English reading material, be able to contact his family, and be provided warm clothing. The prison director agreed to implement them immediately that same afternoon in so far as this was possible within the framework of the national laws and regulations of China. VII. Urumqi Prison No. 1 (Visited on 30 November 2005) 29. The prison was opened on 26 June 2002 and has a male prison population of which 1,337 are Hans, 1,056 are Uighur, 400 are Hui, 200 are Kazakh and the remainder belong to other ethnic groups. The Special Rapporteur was also concerned by reports that detainees were not allowed to pray in detention. 30. The Special Rapporteur notes that a number of detainees interviewed requested absolute confidentiality.