E/CN.A/1992/52 page 15 It has been alleged that the three men had been subjected to severe torture, ill-treatment and verbal abuse at the beginning of their incarceration and that Mr. Hassan had refused to see his lawyer as they were allegedly severely beaten after every visit of their attorneys. It is believed that they are currently in good health and no longer risk torture. It has been reported that Mr. al-Sharqawi, Mr. Sallam and Mr. Mohammad were imprisoned without charge or trial under the State Emergency Act of 1978 which allows for no notification of the family or the right to visitation by legal counsel for a period of one month. According to the information received, Mr. al-Sharqawi and Mr. Sallam were tried by the State Security Tribunal on 25 November 1990 and found innocent on all charges. They were not released and the Minister of the Interior availed himself of the right to rescind the court order within two weeks and did so on 9 December 1990. It has further been reported that during a second hearing on 16 December 1990, all three men were once again declared innocent court ruled again that all three men should be released. Despite court release order against which the Ministry of the Interior is have the right of appeal, the three men were not released and the the Interior allegedly issued an additional arrest order in order may remain in prison. and the the second said to not Ministry of that they It has further been alleged that Mr. Hassan was declared innocent of charges on 10 January 1991 and released, but was immediately re-arrested by the State Security Police and incarcerated. It has been reported that at a hearing which took place on 27 March 1991, the court decided to extend the detention of Mr. al-Sharqawi, Mr. Sallam and Mr. Mohammad by an additional 45 days. An additional hearing took place on 12 May 1991 at which their detention is said to have been extended until 12 June, when they would be either tried or released. According to the sources, they may be charged under Articles 95 and 98 (f) of the Penal Code which, inter alia, concern 'opposing religious doctrines', 'actions against any heavenly religion', 'the exploitation of religion', 'propagation of extremist religious thought 1 , and 'putting national unity and social peace at risk'." 30. Additional information was sent under annex II: "According to additional information received, 'Abd ad-Hamid 'Abd al-Muhsin and Yohanna Bishoy 'Abd al-Masih, Egyptian citizens of Christian faith who had converted from Islam, were imprisoned for several months at the beginning of 1990. It has been reported that 'Abd ad-Hamid 'Abd al-Muhsin died in prison in February as a result of heart failure. Yohanna Bishoy 'Abd al-Masih is said to have been imprisoned on a number of previous occasions for the non-violent expression of his beliefs. The Special Rapporteur has received allegations concerning several cases where the Coptic community of Egypt had not been able to obtain the presidential permit required to build or repair churches as well as on cases when churches had been closed because they were either repaired without