A/HRC/28/69 inside the cells, appeared designed to humiliate and punish those held in Government custody. 147. In this reporting period, conditions of detention continue to be characterised by a lack of food, water, space, sleep, hygiene and medical care and denial of life saving medicine. Detainees are held in severely overcrowded cells, often with little light and with limited access to toilet facilities. Many described having to sleep in shifts as there was insufficient room for all the detainees to lie down at the same time. Many of those held were not able to shower for months at a time. Detainees routinely described cells as being infested with lice and other insects. In such circumstances, infections from injuries sustained from torture by prison guards and interrogators were common, and sometimes, fatal. 148. Those held in Government detention facilities and prisons often received little or no medical treatment. Inadequate food was provided, with some detainees reporting a loss of over a third of their body weight while held in custody. Few detainees ever saw a lawyer, were ever charged or ever appeared in court. 149. One detainee, held in Sednaya prison until late 2014, stated that he was detained in a cell so overcrowded that he and his cellmates took turns standing, sitting and sleeping. Cells were without light and infested with insects, including lice. They did not have access to a shower while imprisoned there. They received no medical care and very little food. Other detainees, held in Sednaya earlier in 2014 provided consistent accounts of dirty, unhygienic conditions in the cells and detainees suffering malnutrition and infections, which went untreated. 150. A woman held in branch 235 during the reporting period stated that her cell was so overcrowded, the woman and girls held there had to sleep on their sides if they were all to lie down. They received little food. No sanitary napkins were provided. The failure of the Government authorities to provide sanitary products from female detainees was echoed by another female detainee in an unknown military security branch in Damascus earlier in 2014. 151. Children under the age of 18 years have been recorded as being held in Government custody and subjected to torture and ill-treatment.c Placed in the cells with adults, they also suffered the same prisons conditions. 152. A man held in Air Force Intelligence in Mezzeh military airport until early October 2014 described being held in an overcrowded cell with children as young as 10 years old. A woman, held in Military Security branch 235 until August 2014 described being held in a small group cell with approximately 30 women, the youngest being 15 years old. 153. Torture and others forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment have been committed by the Syrian Government, in violation of its obligations under international human rights and international humanitarian law. 154. Severe pain has been inflicted on men, women and children held in Government detention centres. It was inflicted to extract information and to humiliate and punish. The physical violence described by former detainees – being suspended by the wrists or ankles, electrocution, kicking, beating (including on the soles of the feet) – have been found to constitute torture by various international tribunals and UN human rights bodies. 155. The Government has continued to perpetrate torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as part of a widespread and systematic c 44 See paragraph 195, below.