A/60/399 Rapporteur is therefore of the opinion that the adoption of laws criminalizing in abstracto certain acts leading to “unethical” conversion should be avoided, in particular where these laws could apply even in the absence of a complaint by the converted person. B. 1. The freedom of religion or belief of detainees Situations reported under the mandate 69. Over the past few years, in addition to the alarming reports of persons being arrested and held in custody because of their religious beliefs, the Special Rapporteur has received a growing number of reports of alleged violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief of persons deprived of their liberty. 70. Among the cases that were brought to her attention were complaints about conditions of detention, in particular not being allowed to have a Bible or to receive communion (see A/58/296, para. 79), punishment of Muslims for observing the Ramadan fast, ibid., para. 106) as well as reports of several Muslim women prisoners complaining of “violations of their right to freedom of worship, having been punished for praying, having copies of the Koran confiscated and being forbidden to wear the veil (ibid., para. 107). There were reports of prisoners being subjected to torture or ill-treatment in an attempt to force them to abandon their faith (see A/59/366, para. 30) and reports of individuals who because of their beliefs had been subjected to torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment while detained and who had not been provided with appropriate and effective remedies (ibid., para. 19). Finally, the Special Rapporteur was also informed of situations where clergy were denied access to death row prisoners (ibid., para. 83 (a)). 71. While these forms of violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief constitute per se a matter of great concern for the Special Rapporteur, this concern was heightened by further reports that, in certain circumstances, not only were the prisoners’ rights to freedom of religion or belief violated, but their religious beliefs were used against them by prison authorities. For example, there have been reports of interrogation methods designed specifically to injure the religious feelings of persons in detention. 72. The Special Rapporteur considers that the cases reported disclose violations of the basic religious rights of prisoners and other persons in detention. In addition, they disclose acts of impermissible discrimination including torture or other forms of ill-treatment inflicted on detainees on the basis of their religion and other acts aimed at injuring the religious feelings of detainees. Such acts were committed by personnel of detention facilities as well as by other detainees. 2. Applicable international standards 73. Persons deprived of their liberty have the right to freedom of religion or belief. Articles 2 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provide, respectively, that the rights and freedoms contained in the Declaration apply to everyone without exception and that no one shall be subjected torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 10, paragraph 1 of ICCPR further provides that “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.” 20