Reuters, UK
April 15 2005
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Prisoners face death by starvation, says Amnesty
15 Apr 2005 14:26:11 GMT
Source: IRIN
LIBREVILLE, 15 April (IRIN) – At least 70 prisoners being held in
Equatorial Guinea’s notorious Black Beach prison outside the capital
Malabo are facing death by starvation, Amnesty International said in
a report this week.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema went on air to deny the allegation,
saying on national radio that “although there are many prisoners
incarcerated at Black Beach, they are well treated.”
Amnesty said those most at risk in the former Spanish colony were
dozens of political prisoners arrested last year who were being held
without trial, and 15 foreign nationals who were deprived of contact
with family and lawyers.
Many were particularly at risk since they had been severely weakened
by ill-treatment, torture and lack of adequate medical care for
chronic illnesses, the London-based rights watchdog said in a
statement.
Among the prisoners are six Armenians and five South Africans
convicted last November of preparing the ground for a mercenary
invasion to overthrow Obiang. The former army officer has ruled the
tiny oil-rich nation with an iron hand since he deposed and killed
his uncle in a 1979 coup.
Four Nigerians have also been held at Black Beach prison for several
months without charge or trial and without their embassy being
notified, Amnesty said.
Prison officials reduced the daily food ration for inmates in
December from a cup of rice to one or two bread rolls, but since the
end of February “provision of any prison food at all has been
sporadic,” the report said.
“Unless immediate action is taken, many of those detained at Black
Beach prison will die,” said Kolawole Olaniyan, the director of
Amnesty’s Africa programme. “Such near starvation, lack of medical
attention and appalling prison conditions represent a scandalous
failure by the Equatorial Guinea authorities to fulfil their most
basic responsibilities under international law.”
Both Amnesty and exiled opposition sources said prisoners often were
dependent on food handed to prison guards by families.
This made the situation all the more difficult for foreigners and for
people from the mainland part of Equatorial Guinea, 200 km to the
southeast, since they had no family nearby, Amnesty said.
Black Beach is situated on Bioko, a mountainous volcanic island
formally known as Fernando Poo, where the country’s offshore oil
industry is based.
Amnesty said all prisoners were kept in their cells for 24 hours a
day and that foreign detainees were held with their hands and legs
cuffed at all times.
The foreigners were handed sentences of between 14 and 34 years in
jail in November for their alleged role in an abortive invasion by
South African mercenaries. Their trial was slammed as unfair at the
time by Amnesty and the London-based International Bar Association.
Former South African soldier Nick du Toit, the alleged leader of the
group, was the sole defendant to have initially confessed to a role
in the conspiracy. He later said that his admission of guilt had been
obtained by torture.
Obiang, the present head of state, has been widely accused of
corruption and human rights abuse during his 25-year rule of what
used to be one of the world’s poorest nations.
Equatorial Guinea now produces 350,000 barrels per day of oil and has
become Africa’s third-biggest oil producer after Nigeria and Angola,
but most of its 500,000 people still live in dire poverty.
Although oil generates US $30,000 per year for every one of the
Equatorial Guinea’s 500,000 inhabitants – giving the country a gross
domestic product per capita equivalent to that of Switzerland or
Denmark – life expectancy remains low at 49 and less than half the
population have access to clean drinking water, according the UN
Human Development Index.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress