A/HRC/13/42* page 122 detained in secret locations until their trial, when they were charged with having posed a threat to State security, rebellion and participation in a coup d’etat on 8 October 2004.462 258. The allegations of the secret detention of three of the individuals - Florencio Ela Bibang, Antimo Edu Nchama and Felipe Esono Ntutumu - were confirmed to the Special Rapporteur on torture during his country visit in November 2008. He mentioned several reports indicating that Equatoguinean officials had been involved in, or had themselves committed, kidnapping abroad before transferring the individuals to Equatorial Guinea and holding them in secret and/or incommunicado detention, noting that this had allegedly been the case of three people still being held in secret detention, probably in Black Beach prison, whom the Special Rapporteur was not able to meet because he was unable to gain access to the part of the prison where they were reportedly held. A number of other cases of prolonged secret detention, most often of persons accused of political crimes, were also brought to his attention. The Special Rapporteur interviewed one individual who had been arrested in Cameroon, where he used to live as a refugee some months prior to the visit. He had then been handed over to soldiers of the Equatoguinean Presidential Guard, who took him to Malabo. He was detained incommunicado in solitary confinement, handcuffed and in leg irons. The restraints were removed shortly before the Special Rapporteur arrived.463 3. Eritrea 259. In a report in 2004 by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the case of 11 former Eritrean Government officials was discussed, and also examined by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The 11 in question - Petros Solomon, Ogbe Abraha, Haile Woldetensae, Mahmud Ahmed Sheriffo, Berhane Ghebre Eghzabiher, Astier Feshation, Saleh Kekya, Hamid Himid, Estifanos Seyoum, Germano Nati and Beraki Ghebre Selassie - were arrested in Asmara on 18 and 19 September 2001, after they had been openly critical of the policies of the Government. They were part of a senior group of 15 officials of the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, which, in May 2001, had written an open letter to ruling party members, criticizing the Government for acting in an “illegal and unconstitutional” manner.464 260. The Government subsequently claimed that the 11 individuals had been detained “because of crimes against the nations’ security and sovereignty”, but refused to release any other information about them - either where they were being held, or how they were being treated. In 462 Opinion No. 2/2008 (A/HRC/10/21/Add.1). 463 A/HRC/13/39/Add.4, paras. 53-54. 464 Seventeenth annual activity report of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, 2003-2004, annex VII, 250/2002, para.2.