51.   A senior PLO official on Wednesday became the first member of the self-rule authority to visit Palestinian prisoners held in an Israeli jail.

52.   A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said he was optimistic that the agency would soon be allowed to visit the prisoners.

53.   AFP was not allowed to visit the prisoner Monday.

54.   According to the Mandela Institute for human rights, one of their lawyers was barred from visiting four prisoners in Jenid on Monday.

55.   Authorities there are detaining more people arbitrarily, and the SLORC would not give assurances the Red Cross would be allowed to visit prisoners.

56.   The prisoners have been visited by doctors and by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

57.   The SLA had already relaxed its grip in January when it permitted relatives to visit prisoners for the first time in three years.

58.   The SLA has allowed prisoners to be visited by their parents over the last three months.

59.   The United Nations, whose officers have been visiting the prisoners each day, have not yet received post-mortem reports for two of the reportedly murdered woodcutters.

60.   The US government has sought to implement this criterion by persuading the Chinese government to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit prisoners.