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Sostre had again been assaulted by prison guards for refusing to submit to rectal arches. An AI observer was also present in February 1975 at Mr Sostre's trial-
sing from his refusal to submit to rectal searches-on charges of assaulting prison guards. He was found guilty, but at the time of writing has not been sentenced.
The Chairman of Al's International Executive Committee, Dirk Börner, discussed the Sostre case with the legal counsellor of the Governor of New York State and in a letter address to Governor Hugh Carey on 14 April 1975 Mr Börner argued that ".
any reasonable person placed in possession of the facts of this case is bound to feel that a serious miscarriage of justice has occurred”.
On 10-11 December 1974, an AI observer attended the hearing in North Carolina of the petitions of three Al-adopted prisoners, James Earl Grant Jr, Charles Parker and T.J. Reddy (known as "The Charlotte Three") in which they sought an order setting aside their convictions on a charge of arson (see AI Annual Report 1973-74), but there has been an extraordinary delay in the handing down of a decision by the judge in this case and at the time of writing no judgment has yet been delivered.
During the past year many appeals have been made to state authorities regard- ing the passing of death sentences, including one passed in the State of Florida on a 15-year-old boy.
Al groups are working on behalf of seven prisoners in the United States.
Uruguay
The combined mission to Uruguay of the International Commission of Jurists and Amnesty International in May 1974 concluded that political detainees lacked legal protection and were systematically tortured during the first period following their arrest. The delegation discussed these questions with the Uruguayan authorities and made specific recommendations as to how to improve legal safe- guards and avoid the occurrence of maltreatment.
During the past year, AI has not been able to note any improvements in this respect. On the contrary, maltreatment has been extended to those categories of detainees who earlier enjoyed reasonably correct conditions of detention in the roofed sports stadium El Cilindro in Montevideo. Persons detained there repre- sent the peaceful opposition, not suspected of subversion, and held for compara- tively short periods of untried detention. Trade unionists, journalists, and politicians were amongst them. Gradually, there were more and more incidents of such prisoners being taken to military barracks, where torture has become routine practice.
AI appealed to the authorities on many occasions during the past year to respect humanitarian and legal norms of conduct towards detainees. One appeal concerned the case of the trade unionist Alcides Lanza, who was severely tortured before being returned to El Cilindro; another appeal related to four dockworkers. Several other urgent steps have been taken in an attempt to protect detainees from maltreatment as early as possible after arrest. One trade unionist, detained earlier, was reported to have died some time after his release as a result of torture.
The political conflicts have further sharpened during the past year and the government's attempts to extend severe political control over all aspects of