Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Cameroon.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Cameroon. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Cameroon security
forces torture 59 opposition supporters – Amnesty International Agency Report, 29
July 2019 [accessed 31 July
2019] AI in a new report
alleged that the 59 opposition supporters were beaten with sticks and forced
into humiliating positions at the State Secretariat for Defence
(SED), in the capital Yaounde. The human rights organisation alleged that the supporters were arrested on
June 1, during a planned peaceful protest in the capital, Younde. “Like many other
unofficial detention centres across Cameroon, the
SED has a reputation for torturing detainees. These repressive and brutal
tactics to silence dissent must end, said Amnesty West and Central Africa
Director, Marie-Evelyne Barry. “We were beaten in
the ears and on our bodies. They then forced us to walk like a duck in the
mud. “After our release,
I spent more than a week at the hospital as I had fractures, bruises and
trauma,” one detainee told the organisation after
his release. Cameroon: Routine
Torture, Incommunicado Detention Human Rights Watch,
6 May 2019 reliefweb.int/report/cameroon/cameroon-routine-torture-incommunicado-detention [accessed 8 May
2019] Human Rights Watch
documented 26 cases of incommunicado detention and enforced
disappearance at the SED detention site between January 2018 and January
2019, including 14 cases of torture. The total numbers are likely much
higher, because abuses are committed in secret and many former detainees are
reluctant to speak because they fear reprisals. Human Rights Watch has
received further credible accounts since April, indicating that these
violations continue. Torture has long
been endemic in Cameroon’s law enforcement and military system, especially
against people suspected of being members of or supporting the armed group
Boko Haram or armed separatist groups. The authorities have detained people
incommunicado and tortured detainees at the SED since at least 2014. The
torture methods Human Rights Watch documented, including severe beatings and
near-drowning, have also been used in both official and illegal, unofficial
detention facilities throughout the country. Inside Cameroon’s
Bunker: “Different guys had different torture techniques” Emmanuel Freudenthal, African Arguments, 7 May 2019 africanarguments.org/2019/05/07/inside-cameroon-torture-bunker/ [accessed 8 May
2019] Melou’s beating began with
a similar immediacy. His torture was filmed by his tormentors themselves. The
video, shared on social media, shows Melou lying in
the mud while gendarmes kick his head and beat his feet with machetes. A BBC
Africa Eye documentary tracked the location of the video as being outside the
courtyard of the gendarme station in the village of Nkgonle
in the Southwest region. In the film, the forces accuse Melou
of killing their colleagues; he says he is just a farmer. The Bunker’s cells
are reportedly so packed that prisoners cannot lie flat on the ground to
sleep. Instead they have to sleep sideways or seated. Many are chained
together so they cannot even go alone to the toilets. Moreover, they say they
are beaten by the guards daily. “Every morning time, they have to give you
seven strokes under your legs,” says Melou,
confirming what other detainees have said. “They use planks.” This is often just
the start of torture that continues through the day. One method used is
called the balançoire (“the swing”). Guards handcuff
prisoners’ hands together and tie their legs with a metal chain. A metal rod
is passed between the hands and the victim is lifted and held up, hanging
between two or three chairs. “When they put you like that,” says Melou, “it just paralyses you. You cannot do anything
again.” The guards then beat the detainee with whatever they have at hand,
from wooden spoons to electric cables. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Cameroon U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/cameroon/
[accessed 7 July
2021] DISAPPEARANCE As in the previous
year, government security forces were believed to be responsible for enforced
disappearances of suspected Anglophone separatists or their supporters.
Multiple credible organizations documented the case of Samuel Abue Adjiekha (aka “Wazizi”), a news anchor for Buea-based
independent radio station Chillen Muzik and Television Pidgin. Wazizi
was detained on August 2, 2019, and pronounced dead on June 5. Wazizi was accused of having connections with armed
Anglophone separatists. He was transferred to a military-run facility in Buea on August 7, 2019, and never appeared in court,
despite several scheduled hearings. In a June 5 press release, the Defense
Ministry asserted Wazizi died of severe sepsis on
August 17, 2019 (see also section 1.c.). TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Although the
constitution and law prohibit such practices, there were reports that
security force members tortured or otherwise abused citizens, including
separatist fighters and political opponents. Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch documented several cases in which security forces severely
mistreated political opponents and others in which armed separatists
mistreated civilians and members of defense forces. Public officials, or
persons acting at their behest, reportedly carried out acts that resulted in
severe physical, mental, and emotional trauma Credible
organizations including the CHRDA reported that Reverend Thomas Nganyu Tangem died chained to
his hospital bed in Yaounde in July. He was a
member of the Mbengwi Monastery in the Northwest
Region and was arrested at Mile 16 in Buea in 2018
and transferred to Yaounde where he was allegedly
tortured while in detention for two years without charge. Equinoxe
Television reported that on several occasions, prison authorities dismissed
concerns expressed by other prisoners regarding his health. On July 25,
prison authorities took him to Yaounde Central
Hospital, where he was shackled to his hospital bed. He died a few days later
on August 5. Tangem was never officially charged
with a crime. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were harsh and life threatening due to food shortages and poor-quality food,
gross overcrowding, physical abuse, and inadequate sanitary conditions and
medical care. Access to food,
water, sanitation, heating and ventilation, lighting, and medical care was
inadequate. Consequently, malnutrition, tuberculosis, bronchitis, malaria,
hepatitis, scabies, and numerous other treatable conditions, including
infections, were rampant. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/cameroon/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Boko Haram
insurgents continue to conduct attacks in the country’s Far North region, and
state security forces there have been accused of torturing alleged Boko Haram
collaborators, many of whom are held without charge. Prison conditions are
often dire. In December 2017,
government forces were accused of burning several whole villages in one of
the Anglophone regions, in response to a deadly separatist attack against a
military base in which four soldiers were killed. U.S. security aid
enables torture in Cameroon A. Trevor Thrall and
Jordan Cohen, United Press International UPI, 14 August 2018 www.upi.com/Top_News/Voices/2018/08/14/US-security-aid-enables-torture-in-Cameroon/7401534247511/ [accessed 15 August
2018] Making matters worse
is the fact that this sort of behavior is nothing new in Cameroon. In 2017,
Amnesty International revealed that the Cameroonian military tortured
prisoners in over 20 sites, and recorded 101 cases of incommunicado detention
and torture between 2013 and 2017. Chillingly, the report also notes that
many of these actions took place at the same military base used by U.S.
personnel for drone surveillance and training missions. During the U.S.
fortification of this site -- known as Salak --
Amnesty International found that suspects were subjected to water torture,
beaten with electric cables and suspended with ropes, among other horrors. Cameroon security
forces torturing English speakers, Amnesty says Stephanie Busari, Cable News Network CNN, 11 June 2018 www.cnn.com/2018/06/11/africa/cameroon-anglophone-torture-amnesty-intl/index.html [accessed 12 June
2018] In the report
titled, "A turn for the worse: Violence and human rights violations in
Anglophone Cameroon," victims gave harrowing accounts of beatings and
allegations of simulated electrocution and torture carried out by the
military as well as attacks on schools and teachers by armed Anglophone separatists.
"They ...
gagged us and tied our faces with our towels and shorts ..." he said. "They then
made us lie in the water, face down for about 45 minutes. ... During three
days, they beat us with shovels, hammers, planks and cables, kicked us with
their boots and poured hot water on us ... when I tried to move and shouted,
one of them used the cigarette he was smoking to burn me." Amnesty said it had
also received information about numerous instances of deaths in custody. UN Committee tells Cameroon
to put an end to torture by security forces in the fight against Boko Haram Amnesty
International, 6 December 2017 [accessed 7 December
2017] Based on
submissions from organisations including Amnesty
International, the UN Committee noted that large numbers of people from
Cameroon’s Far North region are likely to have been held incommunicado and
tortured by members of the military and the intelligence services in at least
20 illegal detention facilities between 2013 and 2017. The Committee also
raised concerns that this torture took place with the likely knowledge of
senior BIR and intelligence officers at one military base, and that dozens of
people may have died following torture and inhuman conditions of detention. Committee against
Torture examines report of Cameroon Committee against
Torture, 9 November 2017 www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22384&LangID=E [accessed 11
November 2017] In the ensuing
discussion, Committee Experts welcomed Cameroon’s acceptance of the
simplified reporting procedure, and its commitment to combat prolonged pre-trial
detention, to increase the number of courts and legal personnel, to address
prison overcrowding, and to improve detention conditions. However, Experts raised concern about
allegations of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances that had
taken place in the context of the fight against Boko Haram, and the use of
excessive force when dealing with the crisis in the English-speaking regions
of the country. They also voiced
concern about delayed ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention,
lenient sentences for the crime of torture, the independence of the special
division for the monitoring of the police force, the use of secret detention centres and military courts as part of the anti-terrorist
struggle, detainees’ access to legal aid and independent medical
examinations, payment of bribes to avoid long pre-trial detention, forcible refoulement of Nigerian refugees on the pretext that they
were members of Boko Haram, and harassment of journalists and human rights
defenders. Other issues raised were
female genital mutilation and other traditional harmful practices, the
rivalry between the executive and judicial branches, domestic violence,
prison overcrowding, juveniles in detention, and mechanisms for compensation
of victims of torture or ill-treatment. More than 1,000
people accused of supporting Boko Haram held in horrific conditions, some
tortured to death Amnesty
International, 14 July 2016 bigstory.ap.org/article/report-cameroon-officials-torture-gay-suspects www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr17/4260/2016/en/ [accessed 3 August
2016] More than 1,000 people,
many arrested arbitrarily, are being held in horrific conditions and dozens
are dying from disease and malnutrition or have been tortured to death, as
part of the Cameroonian government and security forces crackdown on Boko
Haram, Amnesty International revealed in a new report published today. Tortured to death
while detained incommunicado - Amnesty International documented 29 cases of
people being tortured by members of the security forces between November 2014
and October 2015, including six who subsequently died. Most cases of torture
were committed while people were held incommunicado at illegal detention
sites in military bases run by the BIR in Salak,
near Maroua, and Mora, before being transferred to
the official prisons. Victims described being beaten for long periods with
sticks, whips and machetes, sometimes until they lost consciousness. “We were all
interrogated in the same room, one by one, by a man dressed with the BIR
uniform. Two other men in plain clothes carried out the beatings and other
torture. That day, two prisoners were beaten up so badly that they died in
front of us. The men in plain clothes kicked them and slapped them violently,
and hit them with wooden sticks.” Report: Cameroon
officials torture gay suspects Robbie Corey-Boulet,
Associated Press, ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, 21 March 2013 www.mercurynews.com/ci_22840201/report-cameroon-officials-torture-gay-suspects [accessed 21
Aug 2016] [accessed 20 July
2017] Suspected
homosexuals in Cameroon say they have been tortured and raped in prison, according
to a report released Thursday by Human Rights Watch and three local
organizations. The 55-page report,
titled "Guilty by Association," documents reported abuses by
authorities prosecuting suspected gays and lesbians. Those convicted can face
up to five years in prison in Cameroon. The report
documents the case of one man who was tied to a chair and beaten so badly he
couldn't walk for two weeks. Another defendant described being raped
repeatedly and said his rib was broken in a beating. "Prison guards
made no attempt to stop the gang rape and assault, and no one was punished
for it, highlighting another sad irony of Cameroon's law: People are
convicted to prison time for consensual sexual conduct, but once in prison,
convicts who are not considered 'homosexual' can sexually victimize them with
impunity," the report said. Neela Ghoshal, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said many
cases rested on confessions obtained during beatings and torture or on
suspects' appearance and other behavior. Free Men Charged
Under ‘Sodomy’ Law Human Rights Watch,
Johannesburg, August 17, 2011 www.hrw.org/news/2011/08/17/cameroon-free-men-charged-under-sodomy-law [accessed 22 January
2013] Three men returning
from a bar last month in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, were detained by
police because two of them appeared feminine, Association pour la Défense de l’Homosexualité
(ADEFHO) and Human Rights Watch said today. The three were jailed on July 25,
2011, for one week and were tortured and otherwise abused by police during
this time, according to a Cameroonian civil society group that has been
working on their behalf. Jonas told ADEFHO
that police slapped him and beat him on the soles of his feet to make him
confess to being homosexual – both Jonas and Franky confessed. They also
intimated that they did not receive food while in custody. Scars of torture
from Cameroon -- Maria fled to Britain and sought asylum after brutal
treatment at the hands of police in her native Cameroon Richard Holt, The
Telegraph, 28 May 2010 [accessed 19 Jan
2014] Desperation left
her feeling she had no option but to "do something that nobody in
Cameroon does". She went to the police and started asking questions. She was immediately
arrested and put in a cell. They kept her there for three days and repeatedly
raped and tortured her. "At first I
tried to fight them. But at some point I just gave up, knowing I would never
win." It was as they beat
her that she was told about her father's involvement with a political party
opposed to the government. As she is speaking about what happened in the
cell, her eyes stare into the middle distance and her face freezes. “I can’t talk about
that any more. It is in my past and I don’t want to bring it back.” She was detained on
two further occasions, for days at a time, and again tortured and sexually
abused. After she was detained the second time her younger sister came to find
out what was happening. She was also arrested and forced to endure physical
and sexual abuse. After Maria was
released for the third time, she was told her life was in danger and was
advised to leave the country as soon as possible. She paid an agent and was
brought to Britain. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/CR/31/6
(2004) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/cameroon2004.html [accessed 24
February 2013] 4. The Committee
recalls that, in 2000, it found that torture seemed to be a very widespread
practice in Cameroon, and expresses concern at reports that this situation
still exists. It is troubled by the sharp contradictions between consistent
allegations of serious violations of the Convention and the information
provided by the State party. In particular, the Committee declares serious
concern about: (a) Reports of the
systematic use of torture in police and gendarmerie stations after arrest; (b) The continued
existence of extreme overcrowding in Cameroonian prisons, in which living and
hygiene conditions would appear to endanger the health and lives of prisoners
and are tantamount to inhuman and degrading treatment. Medical care
reportedly has to be paid for, and the separation of men and women is not
always ensured in practice. The Committee notes with particular concern the
large number of deaths at Douala central prison since the beginning of the
year (25 according to the State party, 72 according to non-governmental
organizations); (c) Reports of
torture, ill-treatment and arbitrary detention perpetrated under the
responsibility of certain traditional chiefs, sometimes with the support of
the forces of law and order. 5. The Committee
notes with concern that: (a) The draft code
of criminal procedure has still not been adopted; (b) The period of
police custody may, under the draft code of criminal procedure, be extended
by 24 hours for every 50 kilometres of distance
between the place of arrest and the place of custody; (c) The time limits
on custody are reportedly not respected in practice; (d) The periods of
police custody under Act No. 90/054 of 19 December 1990 to combat highway
robbery (15 days, renewable) and Act No. 90/047 of 19 December 1990 on states
of emergency (up to 2 months, renewable) are too long; (e) The use of registers
in all places of detention has not yet been systematically organized; (f) There is no
legal provision establishing the maximum duration of pre-trial detention; (g) The system of
supervision of places of detention is not effective, responsibility for
prison administration lies with the Ministry of Territorial Administration.
The prison supervisory commissions have been unable to meet regularly and,
according to some reports, public prosecutors and the National Committee on
Human Rights and Freedoms seldom visit places of detention; (h) The concept of a
"manifestly illegal order" lacks precision and is liable to
restrict the scope of application of article 2, paragraph 3, of the
Convention; (i)
Appeals to the competent administrative court against deportation orders are
not suspensive, and this may lead to a violation of article 3 of the
Convention. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=cameroon+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/cameroon/ [accessed 20
February 2020] B. DISAPPEARANCE There continued to
be reports of arrests and disappearances of individuals by security forces, particularly
in the northern and Anglophone regions. According to nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), some activists arrested in the context of the crisis
fueled by perceptions of marginalization in the northwest and southwest
Anglophone regions could not be accounted for as of November. Family members
and friends of detained persons were frequently unaware of the missing
individual’s location in detention until after a month or more of attempting
to locate the missing individual. Boko Haram
insurgents kidnapped civilians, including women and children, during numerous
attacks in the Far North region. Some of their victims remained unaccounted
for as of November. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61558.htm [accessed 22 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61558.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, there were credible reports that security
forces continued to regularly torture, beat, and otherwise abuse prisoners and
detainees. In the majority of cases of torture or abuse, the government
rarely investigated or punished any of the officials involved; however, in at
least one case during the year, gendarmerie officers who tortured a citizen
to death were detained and investigated (see section 1.a.). There were
reports that security forces detained persons at specific sites where they
tortured and beat detainees (see section 1.a.). Security forces also
reportedly subjected women, children, and elderly persons to abuse. Numerous
international human rights organizations and some prison personnel reported
that torture was widespread; however, most reports did not identify the
victim because of fear of government retaliation against either the victim or
the victim's family. Most victims did not report torture for fear of
government reprisal or because of ignorance of or lack of confidence in the
judicial system. In New Bell and
other nonmaximum security penal detention centers,
prison guards inflicted beatings, and prisoners were reportedly chained or at
times flogged in their cells. Authorities often administered beatings in
temporary holding cells within a police or gendarme facility. Two forms of
physical abuse commonly reported by male detainees were the "bastonnade," where authorities beat the victim on
the soles of the feet, and the "balancoire,"
during which authorities hung victims from a rod with their hands tied behind
their backs and beat them, often on the genitals. Security forces
continued to subject prisoners and detainees to degrading treatment,
including stripping, confinement in severely overcrowded cells, and denial of
access to toilets or other sanitation facilities. Police and gendarmes often
beat detainees to extract confessions or information on alleged criminals.
Pretrial detainees were sometimes required, under threat of abuse, to pay
"cell fees," a bribe paid to prison guards to prevent further
abuse. During the year
there were reports that persons in police and gendarmerie custody died as a
result of torture (see section 1.a.). On January 8,
Minister of Tourism Baba Hamadou reportedly led a
group of five police officers to a gas station in Yaounde
where they repeatedly beat Genevieve Toupouwou and Gregoire Angotchou, employees
of the gas station. The minister had been angered by Angotchou's
insistence on checking a gas coupon the minister had presented as payment.
The Center Province office of the judicial police was investigating the
incident at year's end. On February 3, police
officers of the GMI of the North West Province town of Bamenda
assaulted and seriously wounded Nelson Ndi Nagyinkfu, the province's executive secretary of the
NCHRF. During a drivers' strike, Ndi witnessed
police beating street vendors and asked Celestin Abana,
the commander of the police patrol, to stop the beatings. Abana
ordered his troops to "finish" Ndi. Ndi filed a complaint with the province's governor, and
an investigation was underway at year's end. In March security
forces beat and arrested 50 students in the West Province town of Bafoussam for participating in an illegal demonstration.
The students were protesting the conviction of one of their professors who
was sentenced to 12 years in prison for theft of academic materials. There were no new
developments in the January 2004 beating of a man named Bikele
by police officers; or the June 2004 assault and arrest of barrister Epie Nzounkwelle by a local
government official. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/cameroon [accessed 22 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] The constitution
guarantees free speech, but genuine freedom of expression remains elusive.
Although the 1996 constitution ended prepublication censorship, the charter’s
Article 17 restricts free expression by giving officials the power to ban
newspapers based on a claimed threat to public order. There are no legal
provisions guaranteeing equal access to information, and libel and defamation
remain criminal offenses. Judicial harassment, arrests, detentions, and
torture of journalists have engendered fear and self-censorship. The judiciary is
subordinate to the Ministry of Justice, and the courts are weakened by
extensive political influence and corruption. Military tribunals exercise jurisdiction
over civilians in cases involving civil unrest or organized armed violence,
and various intelligence agencies operate with impunity. Torture,
ill-treatment of detainees, and indefinite administrative or pretrial
detention are routine. The absence of habeas corpus as a fundamental
principle in Francophone civil law further undermines due process. In the
north, traditional rulers (lamibee) operate their
own private militias, courts, and prisons, which are used against the
regime’s political opponents. The Human Rights Commission, created by the
government in 1992, has yet to publish a single report. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Cameroon", http://gvnet.com/torture/Cameroon.htm, [accessed
<date>] |
