A/HRC/28/83 69. On the same day, a 10-year-old child belonging to the Arab community was injured when an explosive device went off in the Ezadjad area. The child was transported to the MINUSMA camp where he reportedly received first aid before being evacuated to the hospital in Gao on 21 August. On 4 October 2014, a 12-year-old member of the Arab community of Tabankort was seriously injured in the right hand while playing with an explosive device that he had picked up in the vicinity of Tabankort. 70. United Nations peacekeepers came under a number of rocket and mortar attacks in convoys and at the airport in Kidal. The deadliest attack against the United Nations in Mali took place on 3 October 2014. On that date, nine peacekeepers from the Niger were killed in an ambush by heavily armed men on motorcycles travelling between Ménaka and Ansongo in north-eastern Mali. 71. In accordance with the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, ratified by Mali on 26 February 1999, the Independent Expert has received reports of inhuman and degrading treatment committed by armed groups. The Independent Expert is particularly concerned about the wave of offences committed by members of MNLA against the families of the Malian armed forces soldiers still present in Ménaka. 72. On 12 June 2014, a 30-year-old woman was beaten by three members of MNLA at the market in Ménaka. The victim reported that she had been brutally beaten by three individuals on the pretence that her husband was a member of the Malian armed forces based in Ansongo. She was called pro-Malian. This raises the larger question of how to protect the families of soldiers in towns occupied by armed groups. 73. On 6 July 2014, as part of its mandate to monitor the human rights situation in places of detention, the Human Rights Division of MINUSMA heard testimony from prisoners held by HCUA in Kidal. It raises concerns about the way in which certain HCUA combatants humiliated and showed contempt for the prisoners. This was clear from pictures they took using mobile phones, particularly while the prisoners were going to the toilet or taking showers, for the purpose of taunting them. 74. Acts of torture were committed during clashes between the pro-Government MAA and MNLA. For example, a combatant from the pro-Government MAA captured by MNLA, on 8 June 2014, in a village near Tabankort in the Gao region and detained at Intachdaite for 70 days was allegedly tortured in order to compel him to disclose information about the pro-Government MAA. MNLA combatants reportedly burned the victim’s ears and genitals. 75. On 20 August 2014, following an exchange of prisoners between armed groups on 18 August, one of the four prisoners released by MNLA, a 45-year-old member of MAA, was taken to hospital. The person concerned had wounds which suggested that he had been bound by his wrists, which had affected his skin and flesh to the point that his bones were visible in places where he had been tied up. According to the doctor, this is a serious case that might require amputation of the affected limbs. It is allegedly the result of being tied up for long periods of time, an act that constitutes cruel treatment in a detention setting. The injured party has expressed his wish to make a formal complaint against the perpetrators. On the same day, in Ménaka in the region of Gao, six civilians were stopped at a barrier under MNLA control and severely beaten on the grounds that they were wearing T-shirts in the national colours of Mali. 76. The Human Rights Division of MINUSMA has recorded 68 illegal arrests and detentions carried out by armed groups in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu. Most of the prisoners to whom the Human Rights Division of MINUSMA had access were either members of armed groups (17) arrested by their respective superiors on disciplinary GE.15-00252 13