A/HRC/23/57 Movement of Azawad (MAA), Islamic Movement of Azawad (MIA), MNLA and MUJAO, which remain active in Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu. For example, on 5 May 2013, the son of a marabout from Ber, a municipality 60 kilometres from Timbuktu, was reportedly kidnapped by members of MAA during armed confrontations between the Arab and Tuareg communities. 31. MNLA, which controls the Kidal region, is alleged still to be holding more than 30 persons in the city police station, which is being used as a detention centre. For security reasons, it is difficult to verify whether any of the persons thought to have disappeared are among those being detained by MNLA. On 18 May 2013, during a meeting with the MINUSMA Human Rights Division in Ouagadougou, the MNLA leadership acknowledged the detention of 47 persons, all presumed jihadists, including foreign fighters from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mauritania as well as Malian nationals. MNLA invited the MINUSMA Human Rights Division to visit Kidal to meet all the persons who had been detained in the different confrontations in the north of the country. C. Torture and ill-treatment 32. According to a number of witnesses and human rights NGOs, and as inquiries carried out by MINUSMA have confirmed, the ongoing military operations have on occasions been accompanied by abuse on the part of Malian soldiers against persons suspected of being jihadists or active members of armed groups or of having collaborated with these groups. The cases documented by MINUSMA have been brought to the attention of the Malian authorities, which have undertaken to ensure that the alleged perpetrators of human rights violations are brought before the judicial authorities. 33. Combatants from the various armed groups have committed widespread acts of torture and ill-treatment against civilians and persons suspected of being allied with the Government of Mali. The OHCHR Mission received information that five couples were whipped by members of the Islamic police for having been involved in extramarital relationships. Women have also been arrested and whipped by armed groups for having conducted themselves in a manner deemed contrary to sharia law. 34. The Mission interviewed a man receiving medical care at Sévaré hospital who claimed that, on 29 January 2013, in the municipality of Boni, he, his wife and his daughter were beaten and shot at by six armed men belonging to MUJAO. A medical source confirmed that the victim had received three bullets in his body. 35. The Mission also interviewed a 22-year-old male of Songhay origin who had had his hand amputated in a public ceremony in Timbuktu in March 2012. He was accused of having stolen a mattress during the looting that followed Timbuktu’s capture by the armed groups. The ceremony that preceded the amputation was presided over by a judge belonging to Ansar Dine and was attended by members of other armed groups including MUJAO, MNLA and AQMI. According to witnesses, public amputations were intended to discourage theft and each amputee was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment by members of Ansar Dine. 36. The MINUSMA Human Rights Division has made contact with local NGOs with a view to identifying victims of amputations, assessing the scale of the phenomenon and, in conjunction with the various stakeholders, developing specific projects to address the problem, including through the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture’s 2013 call for applications. GE.13-15228 9