Human Right Watch has accused Cameroonian authorities of routine torture and the incommunicado detention of persons suspected to have ties with armed separatists.
In its latest report titled ‘Cameroon: Routine Torture incommunicado Detention”, Human Rights Watch says Cameroonian authorities have held incommunicado 26 persons at the State Defense Secretariat SED since January 2018 and January 2019, including 14 cases of torture, with reports that the numbers are fast on the rise.
The NGO says Gendarmes and other security forces at the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’Etat à la défense, SED) have severely beaten and used near-drowning to extract confession from detainees.
They regret that torture has long been endemic in Cameroon’s law enforcement, especially against those suspected of being members of, or supporting armed separatists or Boko Haram.
The rights group has called on the United Nations Security Council and other partners to take steps towards a return to peace in Cameroon. They say the UN Security Council should put the situation in Cameroon on its agenda, condemn the torture, and call on the Government of Cameroon to end these practices.
Lewis Mudge, Central Africa Director for Human Rights Watch, says security forces in Cameroon have used torture for over the years, without fear of repercussions and the UN Security Council should send a clear message to Cameroon that ending torture in detention is critical to addressing the crisis in the Anglophone regions.
Human Rights Watch revealed compiled testimonies accompanied by shocking images of individuals arrested in several parts of the Anglophone regions, taken to detention centres in Yaoundé, held incommunicado and tortured severely for several months and majority being civilians.
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