EG prisoners starving to death
2005-04-14 21:22
London - Scores of prisoners at a jail in Equatorial Guinea are dying of starvation, Amnesty International said on Thursday, calling on the authorities to provide immediate food and medical care.
Jailers at Black Beach prison in the capital Malabo have stopped providing at least 70 prisoners with meals and blocked all contact with their families, lawyers and consular officials over the past six weeks, the group said.
Among the inmates are five South Africans found guilty on charges relating to an alleged coup plot in the country.
"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," said the director of Amnesty's Africa programme, Kolawole Olaniyan.
"The Equatorial Guinea government is using this as a political tool to keep undesirable dissidents at bay," Olanyian told AFP.
"Unless immediate action is taken, many of those detained at Black Beach prison will die."
A large number of the prisoners, including at least 15 foreign nationals, are already weak from torture, untreated illnesses and general lack of care, the London-based human rights group claimed.
Prison meals 'sporadic'
Last December, food rations were reportedly cut from a daily cup of rice to one or two bread rolls, and since February, provision of any prison meals has been sporadic.
Detainees with family in Malabo rely on supplies handed to guards by their relatives, according to Amnesty.
But the South Africans, six Armenians and four Nigerian nationals at the prison are at a particular risk of starvation as they lack the family support.
In addition to the food problem, the group painted a grim picture of the prisoners' daily routine, describing how they are kept in their cells 24 hours a day, with the foreign inmates handcuffed and shackled at all times.
"Amnesty International is calling on the Equatorial Guinea authorities to immediately provide regular and adequate food, medical care to all who need it," it said.
The organisation also demanded that hand and leg cuffs were removed and prisoners were allowed contact with the outside world.