ALLEGATIONS OF SECURITY FORCE ABUSE OF RIOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000559 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2016 TAGS: MARR PGOV PHUM PREL TN SUBJECT: ALLEGATIONS OF SECURITY FORCE ABUSE OF RIOT SUSPECTS IN TONGA REF: SUVA 530 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: AMBASSADOR LARRY M. DINGER. SECTIONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Summary: An employee from a Tonga NGO has released a report alleging inhumane prison conditions and physical abuse of prisoners arrested after Tonga's November 16 riot (see reftels). The Tonga government and military have denied the charges, and there is some debate about the report's accuracy. However, according to several independent observers, some of the alleged abuses did take place. Further investigations are planned by United Nations offices, as well as national authorities. News sources report that more than 700 people have been arrested, some 100 of whom remain in custody. At the same time, the Tongan government has extended emergency powers for another 30-day period until January 16, 2007. End Summary. Abuse Allegations -------------- ¶2. (C) Angus McLean, a legal aid worker from Australia who has worked with the National Center for Women and Children in Tonga for the last three years, has issued a 16-page report titled "The Systematic Torture and Abuse of Prisoners by the Government of Tonga Following Civil Unrest in November 2006." The report is based on interviews with prisoners arrested and released prior to November 30th, and its author specifically noted it is not an exhaustive study. Following the November 16 riot, Tongan Defense Service (TDS) troops joined Tongan police officers in joint operations to search out those persons suspected of having participated in the looting and arson. Foreign police officers from Australia and New Zealand who were sent to assist in the restoration of order are explicitly not accused of any abuses in the report, and others have told us the foreign law enforcement officers were not involved in the arrests. ¶3. (U) According to the report, TDS personnel were the main perpetrators of the violence against detainees, in many cases using rifle butts to hit detainees on the head in the course of arrests. The report contains several accounts from different prisoners detailing this physical violence. In addition, the interviewees recount seeing other prisoners with injuries they believed to have resulted from beatings. The report cites testimony that a number of prisoners were beaten by the police prior to being placed in their cells. The report contains several pictures of injuries, but it is impossible to tell how the injuries were sustained. ¶4. (U) The report also describes inhumane conditions within the detention facilities. Nuku'alofa's main detention center, the city police station, has seven cells designed to hold 16 individuals each. According to prisoner statements cited in the McLean report, there were sometimes up to four times that amount detained in each cell. In addition, the toilet facilities were inadequate and prisoners desiring to use them required a police escort. Since police escorts were not always forthcoming, prisoners were reduced to relieving themselves on the floors of their crowded cells where many also had to sleep because of overcrowding. Food and washing facilities were insufficient. ¶5. (U) In addition, the report estimates that approximately 40 children were detained, the youngest around 13 years old. These detainees reportedly have been housed with adults. ¶6. (U) Although none of the prisoners interviewed for McLean's report claimed to have personally experienced violence during interrogation, one of them estimated that approximately 40% of the prisoners in his cell had been subjected to some sort of physical violence during questioning. Violence included slapping and punching, as well as being handcuffed for extended periods of time, allegedly for three days in once instance. ¶7. (U) None of the prisoners interviewed stated that they were ever offered an opportunity to contact a lawyer or family member while in custody. According to the report, requests for this type of contact were ignored by the police officers. Families interviewed for the report stated that they did not know their relations were in custody. Report True? SUVA 00000559 002 OF 003 -------------- ¶8. (C) UNICEF sources told EmbOff the board of the Center for Women and Children initially cleared the report for release to UNICEF. However, he said, when the report was subsequently leaked to the media, the board, which includes several Tongan government officials, distanced itself and said it had not cleared the report prior to release. ¶9. (U) Soon after the report's release, TDS officials condemned the report as untrue and politically driven. Tongan Government Spokesman Lopeti Senituli, in response to media inquiries, stated the government does not condone torture or physical abuse, and TDS and police commanders are constantly reminding their officers to "treat detainees with respect." However, the statement goes on to remind the public that the Emergency Powers Regulations allow the police and TDS "...to use such force as may be reasonably necessary to preserve public order." ¶10. (C) A prominent member of the democracy movement and Tonga's former minister of police, Clive Edwards, told EmbOff that he has seen numerous people who had been arrested and released and who showed clear signs of having been beaten. He said he has personally seen at least one broken nose and cases of missing teeth among this group. He said the TDS was chiefly to blame for abusing those arrested. ¶11. (C) Catholic Women's League Director Betty Blake told Emboff that she agrees with the content of the report and is glad it highlights the treatment of arrested children. According to Blake, she recently interviewed two sixteen-year-olds who were arrested and released without being charged. One of them told her that when he was arrested, the police started physically abusing him outside the station so he ran into the building where there were light and witnesses. The other sixteen-year-old was cuffed on the ear. Blake is part of the "Youth Justice Diversionary Program" set up by government to deal with the young riot offenders. According to Blake, the youngest arrested offender is twelve years old. ¶12. (C) Leaders of a major association of Christian churches have written to PM Sevele to report that their churches have also received complaints of mistreatment of prisoners while in jail. One witness allegedly told the group he was beaten and had a gun pointed at his knee before he was interviewed by a police inspector. Others reportedly showed bruises and black eyes, which they said resulted from their arrests. UN to investigate -------------- ¶13. (C) After receiving the McLean report, UNICEF wrote to the Government of Tonga asking for a reaction, but the Government of Tonga did not respond. According to the head of the Suva regional UN office, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture for Human Rights subsequently wrote to the Government of Tonga but has also not received a response to date. ¶14. (C) The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bangkok intends to send an investigative team to Tonga this week. UNICEF also hoped to send someone to Tonga this week to focus on the status of the child detainees but was told to delay its visit until the third week of January. ¶15. (C) The regional office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Suva told us that a Red Cross representative visited the Nuku'alofa jail to investigate the claims of maltreatment and has presented his findings to the Tonga government. This report cannot, he said, be shared with third parties, and he could not comment on its findings. Arrests and Emergency Powers Continue -------------- ¶16. (C) The number of people arrested or in custody as a result of the riots has been steadily rising. According to the news website Matangi Tonga, Tongan police say 702 people have been arrested in relation to the riots, 107 of whom remain in jail. Clive Edwards claims that up to 300 people remain in custody under seriously crowded circumstances. SUVA 00000559 003 OF 003 However, Edwards, who has been hired to seek bail for at least eight detainees, has not been to the jail to know firsthand the conditions there. He said that neither he nor other attorneys have been allowed into the off-limits zone where the rioting occurred and where the police station is. Defendants are not being brought to court for bail hearings, he said, and none have been granted bail. He accused the authorities of holding prisoners until injuries sustained during arrest have healed. ¶17. (C) The first group of those charged is to appear in court beginning Wednesday, December 20. There are rumors that pro-democracy advocates will protest the arrests and detentions at that time. The Tongan government has extended its emergency powers for another 30-day period, ending January 16, in part because of concerns about possible further demonstrations. Edwards said that he believes there will be no trouble on the 20th, since the police and TDS have intimidated people. The hearings will take place within the off-limits zone, access to which is controlled by the TDS. Comment: Elements of Truth -------------- ¶18. (C) It is difficult to determine how true the reports of abuse are. Firsthand evidence is still sketchy. The McLean report, based as it is on secondhand material, is problematic. Some of those in custody certainly have a strong anti-government bias and a political agenda. It seems obvious as well that some members of the pro-democracy camp such as Edwards are relishing the report as a means of redirecting attention toward security forces and government after the ignominy of the riot. Tonga's ever-churning rumor mill seems to have concluded that the report, although exaggerated, clearly has elements of truth. Given the level of detail in the report and the judgments of reputable contacts about it, our fear is that there is probably some truth to the allegations. We will continue to follow-up. DINGER