A man accused of multiple murders in Swaziland told a court he was
tortured by police for 11 days to force him to confess.
He said he was suffocated with a tube and assaulted
all over his body, resulting in many serious injuries. The alleged attack was
said to have taken place at Lobamba Police Station, the Manzini Magistrates’ Court was told.
The
hearing continues.
There are numerous reports of police torture in Swaziland. In January
2017, local media reported police
forced a 13-year-old boy to remove his trousers and flogged
him with a sjambok, to make him confess to stealing a mobile phone.
In September 2016, women were reportedly ambushed by
armed police and ‘brutally attacked’ by police during a strike
at the Plantation Forest Company, near Pigg’s Peak.
In June 2016, a United Nations review panel looking
into human rights in Swaziland was told in a joint report by four organisations,
‘In Mbabane [the Swazi capital], police tortured a 15-year-old boy after his
mother had reported him for stealing E85.00 (US$6). The boy alleges that he was
beaten with a slasher (metal blade tool for cutting grass) and knobkerrie
(club) for five hours. While enduring the pain, he alleges that he was made to
count the strokes aloud for the police to hear. Instead of being charged, the
boy was physically assaulted and made to sit in a chair for thirty minutes
before he was sent back home.’
The report
was submitted to the United Human Rights Council
Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland by the Swaziland
Multi-Media Community Network, Swaziland Concerned Church Leaders, Swaziland
Coalition of Concerned Civic Organisations and Constituent Assembly –
Swaziland.
They also reported the case of Phumelela Mkhweli, a
political activist who died after an alleged assault by police after they
arrested him.
The report also stated, ‘In April 2011, a 66-year-old
woman was confronted by three police officers regarding the wording on her
t-shirt and headscarf. The police allegedly pulled off her T-shirt, throttled
her, banged her head against the wall, sexually molested her, kicked her and
threw her against a police truck.
‘The
US Department of State reported on many allegations of torture and
ill-treatment by police; including beatings and temporary suffocation using
rubber tube tied around the face, nose, and mouth, or plastic bags over the
head,’ the report stated.
See
also
‘HORROR
TALE OF SWAZI POLICE TORTURE
POLICE ‘BRUTALLY ASSUALT’ WORKERS
KING’S
PAPER SUPPORTS POLICE TORTURE
MORE
POLICE TORTURE IN SWAZILAND
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