Amnesty: Republic of Cameroon troops tortured Boko Haram suspects

Hundreds of Boko Haram suspects inwards Republic of Cameroon are existence brutally tortured yesteryear safety forces, Amnesty International said inwards a novel written report published Thursday.

The human rights grouping alleged “horrific in addition to widespread torture at twenty sites, including iv state of war machine bases, 2 facilities function yesteryear intelligence services, a private residence in addition to a school.”

Using dozens of testimonies, corroborated alongside satellite imagery, photographic in addition to video evidence, the written report ‘Cameroon’s underground torture chambers: human rights violations in addition to state of war crimes inwards the struggle against Boko Haram’ documents 101 cases of incommunicado detention in addition to torture betwixt 2013 in addition to 2017, at over twenty dissimilar sites.

“We select repeatedly in addition to unequivocally condemned the atrocities in addition to state of war crimes committed yesteryear Boko Haram inwards Cameroon. But, naught could justify the callous in addition to widespread exercise of torture committed yesteryear the safety forces against ordinary Cameroonians, who are oft arrested without whatsoever prove in addition to forced to suffer unimaginable pain,” said Alioune Tine, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West in addition to Central Africa.

“These horrific violations amount to state of war crimes. Given the weight of the prove nosotros select uncovered, the government must initiate independent investigations into these practices of incommunicado detention in addition to torture, including potential private in addition to ascendency responsibility.”

In a controversy yesteryear Isa Sanusi, caput of media of Amnesty International’s Nigeria office, the organisation said it had written to the Cameroonian government inwards Apr 2017 to portion the report’s findings, but no reply was provided in addition to all subsequent requests for meetings were refused.

Amnesty International estimates that Boko Haram has killed over 1,500 civilians inwards Republic of Cameroon since 2014, in addition to abducted many others.

The grouping has killed to a greater extent than than 10 times that issue inwards neighbouring Nigeria where its insurgency began inwards 2009, according to official figures.

FILE – Cameroon’s regular army soldiers deploy against the Nigerian Islamist grouping Boko Haram inwards Dabanga, northern Cameroon, June 17, 2014. [Photo Credit: VOA]

“The overwhelming bulk of victims were tortured inwards 2 unofficial detention sites; the headquarters of the Rapid Intervention Batallion (BIR) inwards Salak, close the northern metropolis of Maroua, in addition to a facility inwards the capital, Yaoundé function yesteryear the General Directorate of External Research (DGRE), Cameroon’s intelligence services, situated unopen to the country’s Parliament,” the written report stated.

In Salak, at that spot are 2 primary cells criterion unopen to nine yesteryear five metres, each containing upwards to lxx people. Detainees were commonly tortured inwards an query room they called “the DGRE Room”, which is located close the utilisation of a senior officer, Amnesty said. The officeholder was described yesteryear victims every bit providing orders to interrogators, in addition to yesteryear i victim every bit existence able to “decide the life in addition to expiry of each detainee”.

Samou (not his existent name), who was arrested inwards March 2016, told Amnesty International nearly his query inwards Salak a few days later on his arrest:

“They asked me to tell them if I knew members of Boko Haram. That’s when the guard tied my hands in addition to feet behind my dorsum in addition to started to trounce me alongside an electrical cable, piece throwing H2O on me at the same time. They trounce me one-half to death.”

Mohamed (not his existent name) spent vi months inwards incommunicado detention in addition to was interrogated in addition to tortured several times inwards Salak. He told Amnesty International:

“The soldiers asked us to confess. They told us that if nosotros did non confess, they would convey us to Yaoundé to kill us. We replied that nosotros preferred to hold upwards killed rather than to confess something that nosotros didn’t know about. They trounce us similar this for iv days.”

INTERNATIONAL INQUIRY

The written report said both French Republic in addition to the U.S. of A. select state of war machine presence inwards Salak in addition to are probable to hold upwards aware of Cameroonian authorities’ handling of detainees