URGENT: SOUTHERN CAMEROONS ACTIVISTS TORTURED IN DETENTION, BANJUL COURT PETITIONED AGAIN

TORTURE CHAMBER?

There are dreadful reports of how security forces in Cameroon are torturing Southern Cameroons activists

advocating for the ‘independence of Ambazonia (former UN Trust territory of Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom and now annexed by Cameroun).’

In a two page statement circulating on social media, well known Southern Cameroons prisoners of conscience and activists are reportedly being tortured, held incommunicado and for long periods without trial.The cases of  Maxwell Oben,  Numvi Walter, Che Clovis, Nkongso Stephen and NkongsoAndrew repeatedly came up.

MAXWELL OBEN: DETAINED!

The National Spokesperson of the Governing Council of the Federation of Ambazonia, Roland Tewure Fominyam, adds that with the alarming  proportion of human rights violations, it was time to call for pressure on Cameroon 

to provide adequate medical attention, proper feeding to detainees, demand their immediate release or speed up their trial. The release is said to be part of petitions to the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights, ACHPR. 

The Governing Council is also demanding the appointment of a special rapporteur from the ACHPR to investigate the human rights violation allegations. Some officials of the detention facilities notably the judicial police in Bamenda, the Buea Central prison, referred us to the Ministry of justice…

Below is full statement denouncing rights violations....

URGENT ACTION: TORTURE AND IMPUNTY WHILE UNDER DETENTION BY CAMEROUN SECURITY FORCES

By  Christopher Achobang*

SWOOP ON ACTIVIST, COW STREET BAMENDA (ARCH)

We call on the attention of Human Rights organisations, friends of justice and the international community to the situation of 

Che Clovis, Numvi Walters, Nkongso Stephen and Andrew Tamanjong and others, currently held under inhumane conditions for a very long time without trial. 

On Thursday 7 May 2015 Walter Numvi, was arrested in Bamenda by elements of the Judicial Police (Tawe, Elondou, Gideon, Etame). 

On the same day Che Clovis, Andrew Tamanjong were also arrested and detained alongside Numvi in Bamenda. Numvi Walter was kept incommunicado until 8 June 2015(31days) and was denied food, water and subjected to torture and other cruel inhuman and degrading treatment. 

PROTEST AT BUEA HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE  FEB 5, 2011

On Friday 8 May 2015 they were taken to paramilitary torture chambers where Walter Numvi was handcuffed and tortured, beaten on the soles of his feet with a machete. 

He was subjected to the notorious grinding from his Laps to his sheen bone. On Saturday 9 May 2015 he was taken to the torture chambers on two Separate occasions. 

Che Clovis later joined him and both of them (with handcuffs on) were subjected to long periods of sustained torture. They have since been detained, under horrible conditions, denied proper medical care and subjected to psychological and physical torture by prison authorities. 

On Friday 1 July 2015, Che Clovis was seriously tortured by the penitentiary personnel of the Bamenda Central Prison. This is the third time he has been subjected to torture in two months. He sustained the following injuries; cranial trauma, swollen right eye, sprained knee and ankle, and severe nose bleeding.

MOLA NJOH LITUMBE: S.CAMEROONS STATESMAN

He has also been subjected to threats and verbal abuse. Continuous Torture of activists at Cameroon’s penitentiary facilities 

Numvi Walter, Che Clovis, Nkongso Stephen and NkongsoAndrew are being held for advocating independence of Ambazonia 

(former UN Trust territory of Southern Cameroons under United Kingdom and now annexed by Cameroun)

It should also be noted that Maxwell Oben, another Southern Cameroons pro-independence activist was arrested 

in February 2014 by officers of the judicial police department. 

He was handed over to the Services of the State Security Police that operates in the office of the Governor of the region. He has been subjected to psychological and physical abuse, detained without trial. The case he filed to challenge the legality of his detention has never been heard. Among other health issues, Maxwell’s sight is failing and he urgently needs medical attention, which has been denied him. 

We also wish to draw the attention of the UN bodies and human rights 

organisations to the situation of Ngek Simon, Lukong Hassan, Edwin Jumven, all victims of torture serving long term sentences after what the Human Rights Committee in its opinion in the Akwanga versus Cameroun case described as unfair trials. 

ACTIVISTS & VENDORS IN DETENTION(ARCHIVE)

All peoples concerned with human rights and freedoms in sympathy with the appeal of the Governing Council of the people of Ambazonia: 

1. Call for the appointment of a special rapporteur on torture to investigate the systematic and widespread abuses of prisoners including the cases of 

Che Clovis, Numvi Walter, Nkongso Stephen, and Andrew Tamanjong in Bamenda Central Prison and Oben Maxwell in Buea Central Prison. 

2. Call for pressure to be put on Cameroun to provide adequate medical attention, proper feeding and humane treatment of the detainees. 
3. Call for pressure to be put on Cameroun to release the detainees or bring them to a speedy public trial. 
4. Call for Cameroun to respect its obligations under the Convention against torture (CAT), the international Covenant on Civil and Political rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. 

5. That evidence obtained under duress through torture and other forms of physical and mental coercion violates international law, especially article 15 of CAT and Cameroun’s law as expressed in its Penal Code, hence it should be dismissed in any legal proceedings.

*Freelance Journalist and Human Rights Activist