A/HRC/42/30 108. Ms. Maryam Soulayman Al-Ballushi was detained on 19 February 2015 and accused of “financing terrorism” because of her donation to a Syrian family. She was transferred to a secret detention center in solitary confinement where she stayed for five months, and was reportedly interrogated and subjected to beatings on the head and threatened with rape. It is alleged that a confession was obtained under duress and, on 12 April 2016, Ms. Al-Ballushi was sentenced to 5 years prison at Al-Wathba prison. After information was submitted about the situation of Ms. Al-Ballushi and others to the United Nations special procedures, the family was reportedly contacted by a female State Security officer who threatened to bring Ms. Al-Ballushi to trial again and lay new charges against her. She also threatened to harm the family members if Ms Al-Ballushi kept denouncing her detention conditions. 109. On 4 May 2019, shortly after Ms. Abdulnoor’s death, allegedly because they were seen as information sources to advocates abroad including the United Nations, Ms. AlBallushi and her cellmate, Ms. Amina Alabduli, were subjected to unequal treatment within the prison. Ms. Alabduli had been arrested in November 2015 and sentenced in October 2016 to 5 years charged with “inciting hatred against the State and disturbing public order; undermining the reputation of the State institutions, and publishing false information to endanger the State’s relations with its allies.” Following the death in custody of Ms. Abdulnoor, six police officers reportedly entered and searched the cell of Ms. Al-Ballushi and Ms. Alabduli and stamped on and confiscated their religious books. It is reported that they are both constantly abused by other inmates, which the prison administration reportedly has not addressed. Beyond requesting protection from the prison administration, they have complained about the systematic ill-treatment they are subjected to, compared to other detainees. 34. Uzbekistan 110. According to reports received, in November 2018, Ms. Tatyana Dovlatova, a human rights defender, and several other women activists, were prevented from attending the Asian Forum on Human Rights in Samarkand. The Forum took place on 22 and 23 November 2018 organized by the National Human Rights Center, and co-organized by the OHCHR Regional Office for Central Asia, the United Nations Country Team in Uzbekistan and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. On 22 November 2018, Ms. Dovlatova and the other women were subjected to detailed questioning by the Samarkand Prosecutor and the Deputy General Prosecutor in connection with their attempts to attend the Forum without being on a list of participants approved by the Government, and for requesting to meet with United Nations officials and human rights experts attending the Forum. Following the questioning, Ms. Dovlatova and the other women were reportedly taken against their will to Tashkent in order to prevent their interaction with the United Nations. The following days, when the Forum was still ongoing, Ms. Dovlatova and the other women were under surveillance by Uzbekistan security forces reportedly to prevent their interaction with United Nations officials and to prevent them from raising human rights issues at the Forum. 35. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 111. Between 11 and 22 March 2019, an OHCHR team visited Venezuela. On 20 March 2019, in an oral update to the Human Rights Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights noted the visit as a positive first step and underlined the importance of completely unhindered access for the OHCHR team, with no reprisals against any person who had met, or sought to meet, them.103 According to reports received in March and April 2019, medical personnel, human rights defenders, and members of students’ movements who cooperated 103 OHCHR, Oral update on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 40th session of the Human Rights Council (20 March 2019). 39