HUMAN REMAINS UNEARTHED AT CENTRAL PRISON, EMBASSY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000169 SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL SHARON COOKE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL ASEC GV SUBJECT: HUMAN REMAINS UNEARTHED AT CENTRAL PRISON, EMBASSY SPEAKS WITH TORTURE VICTIM Classified By: POL/ECON CHIEF SHANNON CAZEAU FOR REASON 1.4 B AND D ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. A Guinean prisoner advocacy NGO has reportedly unearthed human skeletal remains under a former trash heap at Conakry's central prison. Although most of the skulls and large bones were reportedly stolen in the middle of the night, Poloff saw several bone fragments sticking up out of the ground. Talk of abuse led to a discussion of torture and an invitation to speak with a torture victim. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) After receiving an email from an NGO contact at Conakry's Central Prison about human skeletons being unearthed, Poloff visited the prison and the NGO on May 6. Dr. Soraya is a Moroccan woman running the Guinean NGO ASWAR, which is a prisoner advocacy organization. She has been with the organization since 2002 and her office is located on the prison grounds. She is doing phenomenal work in improving the quality of life for inmates, is widely respected by the prison community, and has unrestricted access to the compound. Dr. Soraya is passionate about prisoners' rights, which she says is partly because her father was unjustly imprisoned in Morocco for decades. -------------- HUMAN SKULLS IN THE GARDEN -------------- ¶3. (C) Dr. Soraya told Poloff that ASWAR has been working on a project, financed by the German Government, to plant a large vegetable garden within the prison compound in order to provide a mechanism for inmates to earn money, and contribute to their daily nutritional needs. According to the project manager, who is a Liberian refugee, after only digging one foot into the ground, he unearthed seven human skulls as well as a number of other human bones. Dr. Soraya said the garden site used to be the prison trash heap where garbage was frequently burned. According to the project manager, many of the unearthed bones were charred. ¶4. (C) When Poloff asked to see the bones, the project manager said that he has been covertly hiding them on the garden grounds, but that they keep disappearing in the middle of the night. He said that all of the skulls were gone, but that he still had a few leg bones hidden. When Dr. Soraya and Poloff went to the garden site, the project manager looked at several different spots where he had reportedly hidden the bones. "They are all gone," he told Poloff, as he kicked at the ground. However, Dr. Soraya showed how bone fragments, which appeared human, were literally sticking out of the ground. ¶5. (C) According to Dr. Soraya, the skeletons must be at least ten years old. She said that she had talked to inmates and all of them confirmed that no bodies had been buried on the compound for at least a decade. However, she said that several of the older inmates reported that there are between 75 and 100 bodies buried at the trash site, since it used to be common practice to throw the corpses out with the trash. Dr. Soraya told Poloff "I am absolutely sure that these remains are at least ten years old; since I have been here, all of the corpses are sent to the cemetery." ¶6. (C) Dr. Soraya said she had discussed the issue of the discovered skeletons with the Administrative Director of the Penitentiary System who reportedly told her "if you want to bury them, go ahead; if you don't like the site, choose another one for your garden." -------------- CONVERSATION WITH A TORTURE VICTIM -------------- ¶7. (SBU) On a separate issue, Dr. Soraya mentioned the problem of torture, which she estimates affects at least 30% of inmates. However, she said that since she has been on site at the prison since 2002, very little torturing is happening within the prison grounds. She told Poloff that the inmates are beaten and/or tortured before they arrive at the prison, or they are taken to another location and she just sees the wounds when they return. Her project manager mentioned that an inmate had been dropped off the previous day who was suffering from severe injuries. Dr. Soraya said she had not seen him yet and invited Poloff to accompany her. ¶8. (SBU) Dr. Soraya and Poloff found the inmate standing CONAKRY 00000169 002 OF 002 outside the medical facility that Dr. Soraya built a few years earlier with donor support. The man had large abrasions all over his body, including areas with large patches of skin missing. He had a large circular wound on the back of his head where the hair and skin had been scraped off. His buttocks were covered in similar abrasions, making it impossible for the man to even cover himself. He wore only a ragged pair of shorts that he had pulled up as much as possible, but which left his buttocks completely exposed, as well as most of his pubic hair. The wounds looked to have been recently treated with some kind of topical medication. ¶9. (SBU) Escorted by one of the prison guards, Dr. Soraya asked the inmate who was responsible for the wounds. The prisoner said "the police," but then the prison guard stepped in and said "no, the population did this to him before the police got him." The prisoner agreed and said it was the population, but then later said again that it was the police. "They kept beating me and telling me to confess," he said. As Dr. Soraya left, she was issuing orders right and left to her colleagues for medical treatment. Under her breath, she told Poloff "if he does not get treatment immediately, he will die in here." -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶10. (U) Although conditions in Conakry's central prison are abhorrent by western standards, Dr. Soraya and ASWAR are doing incredible work to make it a more tolerable place. Just seven months after Poloff's last visit, the prison looked transformed. In addition to the vegetable garden, ASWAR is constructing a soap making facility for female inmates in order to provide them with an opportunity to earn money while incarcerated, as well as a marketable skill for when they are released. Along the same lines, ASWAR is constructing a poultry growing facility for the male inmates, thanks to financing from UNDP. Dr. Soraya is especially sensitive to the young inmates (aged 8 to 18) and has made several improvements over the years, including building a stand-alone facility for them so that they can be housed away from the adult inmates. ¶11. (C) Unfortunately, the issue of unearthed human remains is not unusual. The local representative for the International Red Cross told the Ambassador on May 6 that human remains are periodically unearthed in various prison facilities throughout the country, many of them assumed to be a legacy of the Sekou Toure regime. Embassy continues to hear reports of torture and abuse of detainees and inmates. Poloff told Dr. Soraya about the Embassy's initiative to launch a Human Rights Working Group next week, which was enthusiastically received. "The U.S. is the champion of human rights and we need that leadership to make a difference," she said. END COMMENT. CARTER