A/HRC/7/10/Add.1 page 66 he had proven that he holds US citizenship his application for bail was rejected because he is Indian by birth. Mr. Venkataram, who is a practicing Hindu, is provided with meals containing meat which runs counter to the principles of his religion. Furthermore, he is not given the opportunity to practice his religion in prison. Mr. Venkataram is subjected to regular strip searches and humiliations and is forced to work under severe conditions. He is being refused access to proper medical care, although he has informed the prison authorities about his suffering from pain. Finally, Mr. Venkataram is held together with sentenced criminals in prison, some of whom are dangerous. Observations 284. The Special Rapporteur regrets that she has not received a reply from the Government concerning the above mentioned allegation. She would like to refer to her 2005 report to the General Assembly (A/60/399, para. 85), in which she stated that “a person in custody finds him or herself in a situation of enhanced vulnerability and can therefore be an easy target for persecution. Prison authorities are given total control over the most basic activities of the inmates, from the time they will sleep to what they will eat, and how they will be able to exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief”. The Special Rapporteur wishes to emphasize that it is crucial to provide the personnel of detention facilities with adequate training, raising awareness and enhancing their sensitivity about their duty to promote and respect international human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners. Uzbekistan Urgent appeal sent on 24 May 2007 jointly with the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture 285. The Special Procedures mandate holders brought to the attention of the Government information they had received regarding Mr. Mirkarim Saitkarimov, aged 28, student of the Tashkent Culinary College. According to the information received, on 31 May 1999 his house was searched and he was arrested by the National Security Service (NSS) and transferred to the Tashkent City Department of Internal Affairs. While Mr. Saitkarimov was held there, he was subjected to ill-treatment in order to force him to confess. 286. On 14 August 1999 Mr. Saitkarimov was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment by the Tashkent Criminal Regional Court on the basis of this confession for being a Hisb-ut-Tahrir member. The Appeal Board of Tashkent Regional court upheld the verdict. Since then Mr. Saitkarimov has served his sentence in a series of prisons, initially Prison Colony No. 64/49 in Karshi town, where the Deputy Head of the Colony, Mr. Sherobod struck him every day on the soles of his feet, raped him by inserting a baton in his anus, electro shocked him and forced him to stay outside naked during winter time. 287. In 2001 Mr. Saitkarimov was transferred to Colony No. 64/61 of Karshi town, in 2003 he was transferred to Colony 64/3 in Tavaksai village of Tashkent Region. In both facilities he was subjected to ill-treatment by prison officials. In March 2005, he was transferred to Colony 64/65 in Zangiata not far from Tashkent, where he was regularly ill-treated by fellow-prisoners from Zhaslyk Colony (No. 64/71) with the participation of the Deputy Head of the Colony. In December 2006, Mr. Saitkarimov was transferred to the high security prison in Andijan “SI-1”,