A/HRC/7/27 page 15 59. Another effect is that, despite relevant provisions in the Afghan Interim Criminal Procedure Code and ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), defence lawyers are given inadequate or no notice of hearings, and are often criticized or intimidated by judges, prosecutors and police for defending their clients. The principle of presumption of innocence is also not systematically respected. Courts convict without providing defendants the opportunity to challenge evidence, using evidence such as police reports and witness statements. Encouragingly, the Advocates Law, which establishes the Afghan Bar Association and strengthens legal aid, was passed recently. I hope that, with its passage, rights protection will improve in both the criminal and civil systems. 60. Prosecutors and the courts systematically breach legal time limits leading to widespread illegal detention. Significant numbers of cases are backlogged for months, sometimes years, at the Appeals and Supreme Courts. Reasons for these delays include active disregard for or ignorance of legal time limits, and under-resourcing. Breach of time limits balloons the population in detention centres. With the judiciary unable to deal with those arrested expeditiously, 50 per cent of persons in detention centres are awaiting trial. Absence of model bail rules also contribute to an excessive population of pretrial detainees. 61. Overall, the population of detention centres has increased exponentially. As of March 2007, 10,400 detainees and prisoners were incarcerated; slightly more than 300 were female. In 2001, only 600 people were in detention, though by March 2005 5,500 people were in detention. 62. Many detention centres in Afghanistan still fail to meet minimum internationally accepted standards for condition of detention. In general, conditions are worse for women than for men. Women in detention often have a poorer level of food, clothing, heating and health care. Despite being required by law, adequate separate housing for female detainees and prisoners with children remains an issue, with the number of children accompanying their mothers almost equal to the total number of females in detention. Where there are no detention facilities for women, normally at the district level, women are often detained in private homes, under ill-defined custodial arrangements where they are vulnerable to abuse. 63. Private homes or facilities also continue to be used to detain parties in an effort to settle private disputes rather than seeking redress from the formal law enforcement and justice systems. During 2007, in Spinghar district of Nangarhar alone there were 10 reported cases of such private detentions related to the narcotics trade. Other verified cases of detention of individuals in private prisons include those detained for personal disputes, disputes over property, timber, gems, vehicles and other personal property. Powerful tribal elders and commanders often are linked to private detention with local authorities frequently acquiescing, failing to take action or at most limiting their intervention in securing the release of the persons detained. 64. The application of the death penalty in Afghanistan is of grave concern. On 7 October 2007, the Government ended an unofficial three-year moratorium by carrying out death sentences against 15 men. The men were executed by firing squad following the constitutionally required presidential endorsement. According to witnesses interviewed by UNAMA, the inmates were denied last religious rites, had their hands and feet tied, and some were reportedly shot seven or eight times, including in the head. The executions were carried out