E/CN.4/1997/71 page 20 48. It has been also alleged that “the way the criminal justice and penal systems function makes Aborigines particularly vulnerable to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The high rate of Aboriginal death in custody is also due to the dramatically disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people in detention”. 49. Alleged ill-treatment by police officers has been reported. Police continue to intimidate and harass relatives who do not accept official explanations about deaths in custody and instead have called for further investigations. 50. Furthermore, it has been reported that some prisoners have been kept in leg-irons, handcuffs and chains for up to 24 hours a day and over a period of several days. 51. In one case, an Aboriginal man was assaulted by four police officers and sustained head injuries from the use of batons. More than 26 months after an initial complaint had been lodged, the Director of Public Prosecutions found that there was evidence on which one of the officers should have been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm. However, for technical legal reasons, the officer could no longer be charged. 52. No reply has been received from the Government of Australia. 2. Communication dated 18 December 1996 53. The Special Rapporteur has been informed of the surge in racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia in Australia towards Aborigines, Australians of Asian origin and foreigners, and in particular of the Hanson syndrome or phenomenon. 26 3. Special Rapporteur's observations 54. The Special Rapporteur hopes that the Government of Australia will respond to his initial communication and provide him with the necessary information on the later one so that he can plan, if appropriate, for a field mission in 1997. C. 1. Austria Communication dated 26 May 1995 55. It has been reported that “on 5 November 1994, in the city of Bludenz, a predawn arson attack was set on a Turkish-owned building which was to be converted into a mosque after its renovation. The building was heavily damaged, but there were no injuries. It has been alleged that the arson attack had racist motivations.” 56. It has been reported that “on 5 February 1995, in the city of Oberwart, a pipe-bomb concealed in a placard reading 'Gypsies go back to India' killed 4 people living in the Gypsy settlement, where a total of 117 people live in 19 box homes. The bomb had been designed to explode at chest-height when anybody touched the placard, whose message had been inscribed in the