A/HRC/6/19 page 65 under surveillance and followed after the demonstration was dispersed. They were taken to a NISS detention facility in north Khartoum where they had to remove their shirts which were then used to blindfold them before being taken into the building. They remained blindfolded in this way for most of the two days during which they were interrogated in NISS detention. During this time they were allegedly tortured and ill-treated. The torture ceased when they were transferred to police custody on the third day of their detention. According to reports, the students were beaten with plastic pipes on the bare skin of their backs, on their legs and on their hands, as well as with wooden sticks on the ankles. Reports indicate that one detainee was strangled until he lost consciousness and two others fainted after having been repeatedly tortured with electric shock. In addition to being subjected to physical violence, the detainees were reportedly also threatened with death. The interrogation reportedly focused on whether Abdel Wahid supporters in Khartoum held weapons, and on their kind and location, as well as on the channels through which they obtained funding. Under threat of death, some of the detainees were forced to make statements, such as about weapons and funds which the SLA/AW allegedly brought to their supporters in Khartoum. The detainees were also reported to have been insulted on account of their Darfurian origins and told that the Fur would not share political power in Sudan. (ii) Allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Darfurians detained in the context of a murder investigation The verdict in the trial on the murder of newspaper editor Mohamed Taha, who was killed on 6 September 2006, was expected to have been delivered by mid-November 2007. The police investigation into the murder was focused mainly on the Darfurian community in Khartoum. According to police records, a total of 73 people were arrested and detained, starting from mid-September 2006. The vast majority of them, according to information received, were of Darfurian origin. There have been widespread allegations of torture by those detained in the context of the investigation. The allegations related mainly to detention in the custody of police, who were in charge of the murder investigation, but there have also been reports of abuses committed by NISS officials who participated in the investigation. Most suspects were released following up to five months of detention. Nineteen people, all but one of them of Darfurian origin and most belonging to the Fur community, have stood trial for the murder of Mohamed Taha. While several of those who were charged with the murder appear to have maintained links with Darfurian political groups, others had no discernible political allegiances and may have been arrested merely because of their Darfurian origins. Due to lack of evidence, nine defendants were acquitted and released on 27 August 2007, after having spent nearly one year in detention. The prosecution has appealed the acquittal. The remaining ten, all of them Darfurians, continue to be detained pending delivery of the judgment. The prosecution has alleged that the defendants plotted to murder Mohamed Taha because defamatory articles against Fur women had been published in the newspaper Al Wifaq, which was edited by him. After they failed to win a lawsuit for defamation, the defendants allegedly plotted to murder him. The case of the prosecution relies almost exclusively on written statements obtained by police during the pre-trial investigation from the ten defendants who remained in detention.