E/CN.4/2003/24 page 25 18. Said M. and Hassan U., two Algerian immigrants, the first of whom is 17 years old, were beaten by the Ceuta local police at the time of their arrest on 14 October 2000, and in the police station where they were later taken after having been brutally shoved into a vehicle. (…) At the police station, Said M. lost consciousness; he revived when he was sprayed with water from the hose that had been used to beat him. Forced into a police vehicle, the two men were beaten again and taken to the place where they had been arrested. They were found there by members of the Civil Guard, whom they asked for help and who took them to the hospital of the National Institute of Health (Insalud) in Ceuta. The medical report on their case mentions a number of lesions and cuts. On 19 October 2000, a newspaper published a photograph of the wounds that had been sustained by one of them. 19. Shihab R. (pseudonym), a minor, was arrested by members of the Ceuta police force at the end of October 2001 at the port, where he was preparing to attempt a crossing to the Spanish mainland. He was forced to board a vehicle and was taken to a police station, after which he was transferred to the barracks of the Civil Guard. During the journey, he was struck on the arms, legs and head. He was also beaten with a truncheon and kicked. According to the information received, he was again beaten on Civil Guard premises, where he was locked in a room for three hours before being taken to the San Antonio centre. The medical report prepared by the National Institute of Health (Insalud) on 2 November 2001 notes a stable fracture of the second metacarpus of the left hand. Shihab R. did not receive any care until the Carmelites of La Caridad de Vedruna took him to the Red Cross hospital. 20. Omar H. (pseudonym), age 16, arrived in Ceuta from Tangiers in September 2001. A few days after his arrival in Spain, he was arrested by the police. Omar H. told the police that he was a minor but was nevertheless taken to a police station where he remained for a whole day. According to the information received, during his stay he was beaten on the back and thighs with a truncheon. He was subsequently taken to the San Antonio centre. 21. Salah S. (pseudonym), a minor held at the Fort Purísima Concepción centre, was beaten by two members of the staff of that establishment in October 2001, after an altercation with another inmate. According to the information received, he was slapped and kicked in the back of his legs. 22. Ayman M. (pseudonym), age 16, was sent back to Morocco on 28 July 2001 after having spent eight years in Melilla. According to the information received, the director of the centre where he was being held had informed him that he would be brought before a judge with another minor from the same centre and young people from other holding centres. However, all of the minors concerned were taken directly to the border with Morocco and handed over to the Moroccan police authorities of the town of Nador. They were then taken to a police station where officers wearing boots trod on their feet; the minors were wearing light footwear. They were asked where they came from and how they had arrived in Melilla. They were then locked in a warehouse. Before they were released, they were beaten with a high-tension electric club by some 10 officers. Ayman later had contusions on his left wrist. According to the information received between 27 July and 18 September 2001, the Melilla authorities expelled at least 32 unaccompanied minors between the ages of 11 and 17, and there have been at least 70 expulsions of this type as of February 2002. (…)