- 15 Further, since 1997, a new holding area for persons applying for asylum had been opened. It was partitioned into four compartments, each equipped with a bed, locker and chair; in addition, there was small common area with a table and a TV set. Similar to the situation described above in respect of the Holding Centre for Aliens in Piraeus, there were no arrangements for outdoor exercise or activities for detainees (although a few newspapers had apparently been distributed during the morning of the visit). As to the provision of food, for “inadmissible” foreign nationals it remained the responsibility of the airline company, while asylum seekers were supplied with food by the Airport Police Department twice a day (at 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.). The delegation heard complaints from the former category of foreign nationals to the effect they had not received any food. The delegation was told that a larger and better equipped holding area for foreign nationals is envisaged at the new Athens International Airport, scheduled to enter into service in 2000. The CPT would like to receive more information on this issue. 31. The delegation also paid a visit to the holding facility run by the Transitional Detachment for illegal aliens3 in the town of Feres, near the border with Turkey. It occupied a makeshift construction resembling a hangar, consisting of two large rooms (some 33 m²) and one smaller room (20 m²). The squalor in these rooms beggared belief. Access to natural light was symbolic, artificial lighting was dim, and the rooms were stuffy and damp. The only equipment consisted of cement platforms on which torn sponge mattresses had been laid out. Electric cables were coming out of the walls, and the floors were covered with water overflowing from the toilets and containing various forms of rubbish. The sanitary facilities were practically unusable (no light, blocked toilets, broken sinks). The whole place resembled a human dump. At the time of the visit, 18 Iraqi nationals (including 6 young children) were being held there. They claimed to have spent the previous four days in the holding facility; nevertheless, this appeared to be their fourth or fifth stay there, as they had allegedly been transferred repeatedly between Turkey and Greece in the preceding months. However, it was impossible to establish how long these persons had spent in custody, or indeed how many other persons had been held at the Feres holding facility in the past and for what periods of time, as no custody records were being kept (cf. also paragraph 45). On a positive note, detainees had access for several hours a day to a relatively large yard adjoining the holding facility, where they could also wash their clothes. The delegation was shown several rooms located on top of the hangar which were in the process of being fitted out as a detention facility for women with children. The rooms were spacious, well lit and equipped with sanitary annexes. * 3 * * By order of the Director of Alexandroupolis Police Directorate, two Transitional Detachments (in Alexandroupolis and Orestiada) were set up in 1999 for the purpose of preventing the entry of illegal aliens on Greek territory. In the event of such persons entering Greece, these detachments are empowered to arrest them and deliver them to the relevant police services for further action.