A/HRC/6/14 page 15 47. Credible sources report that detainees were held in degrading conditions in a special punishment area of Insein prison, commonly known as the “military dog cells”, a compound of 9 tiny isolation cells measuring 2 meters by 2 meters constantly guarded by a troop of 30 dogs. The cells lack ventilation or toilets, and the detainees (mostly political prisoners) have to sleep on a thin mat on the concrete floor and are only allowed to bathe with cold water once every three days for five minutes. A recently released detainee testified that he was made to kneel bare-legged on broken bricks and also made to stand on tiptoe for long periods. Further reports confirm that monks held in detention were disrobed and intentionally fed in the afternoon, a time during which they are religiously forbidden from eating. 48. State security groups have continued to search for and detain specific individuals suspected of involvement in the anti-Government protests primarily through night raids on homes. It has also been confirmed that the authorities have resorted to arbitrary and unlawful detention of family members or close friends and suspected sympathizers of protesters currently in hiding. This constitutes hostage taking - explicit or implicit pressure on the suspected protesters to come forward as a condition for releasing or not harming the hostage. It is a violation of fundamental rules of international law. For example, before Thet Thet Aung was detained on 19 October, her mother and mother-in-law, otherwise unwanted by the authorities, were arbitrarily detained by Myanmar authorities seemingly to intimidate and pressure Thet Thet Aung to come forward. Both have since been released, though her mother was kept in detention until 2 November. Similarly, before poet Ko Nyein Thit was detained by Myanmar authorities, his wife, Khin Mar Lar, was taken into custody on 1 October and not released until 21 October. When Di Nyein Lin evaded arrest on 12 October, the owner of the house in which he was hiding, Thein Aye, was arbitrarily arrested. Di Nyein Lin was arrested on 23 October, and Thein Aye remains in custody. 49. The Special Rapporteur received allegations indicating that 106 women, including 6 nuns, are being held in custody in Yangon after being arrested in connection with September’s demonstrations and would like to praise the more than 25 women activists who paraded through downtown Yangon on 26 November in the first public display of opposition to the military regime since the September crackdown, in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The group, which included housewives and students, marched from the Sule Pagoda to the Botataung pagoda, where they prayed for the monks and other protesters who died in the September demonstrations and for the release of detainees. The women were shadowed by members of the Government-backed USDA and the paramilitary SAS, but they did not intervene. 50. On 20 November, a week after the Special Rapporteur’s visit and call for the release of all political prisoners in accordance with his proposed plan of action in his last report to the General Assembly (A/62/223), 58 prisoners had been released on humanitarian grounds, according to a statement by the Government. It said that 9 men over the age of 65, and 49 women, either pregnant or with children, were set free. It did not say if they were political prisoners and made no mention of pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. “The Government will continue to release those that will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the existing peace, stability and the unity of the nation as the country goes through a steady evolution towards a democracy”, the statement said.