Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SUVA559
2006-12-17 22:45:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Suva
Cable title:  

ALLEGATIONS OF SECURITY FORCE ABUSE OF RIOT

Tags:  MARR PGOV PHUM PREL TN 
pdf how-to read a cable
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R 172245Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY SUVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3550
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0641
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1454
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 1045
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1236
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 0667
RUEHNZ/AMCONSUL AUCKLAND 0262
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
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).

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