Johannesburg – A leading human rights group on Tuesday warned of “grave human rights concerns” – including allegations of widespread torture of detained soldiers – in Lesotho despite the intervention there by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
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The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (Salc) said
more than 50 soldiers who supported Former
Lesotho army chief Maaparankoe Mahao had been
arrested in connection with the coup plot allegations.
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Last month SADC leaders appointed an independent commission of inquiry, headed by a Botswana judge, to probe the recent killing of the former Lesotho army chief Maaparankoe Mahao by soldiers, allegations by the government of a mutiny plot in the army and other issues.
Mahao was killed near his home outside the capital Maseru in June, allegedly while resisting arrest in the mutiny plot.
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (Salc) said more than 50 soldiers who supported Mahao had been arrested in connection with the coup plot allegations.
And it said, after a fact-finding mission to Lesotho this month, that habeas corpus applications brought to the courts by relatives of the detained soldiers indicated that many had been “snatched” or “kidnapped” by heavily-armed, masked men dressed in black “with no clear procedure of arrest, no arrest warrants, and no clarity of charges under which the arrests were effected”.
The habeas corpus applications also alleged “a pattern of abuse and torture”, Salc said. “Once abducted, the soldiers were typically taken to Sedibeng, in an area that is particularly cold and where it often snows in the mountains.
“Here the detainees were forced to walk on ice, sprayed with cold water or thrown into a frozen and dirty stream. Wet and in the cold, they are then tied to a pole and hooded overnight whilst being insulted and asked for information. While tied, some detainees are beaten and gun shots are fired around them.”
Mahao was killed near his home outside the capital Maseru in June, allegedly while resisting arrest in the mutiny plot.
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (Salc) said more than 50 soldiers who supported Mahao had been arrested in connection with the coup plot allegations.
And it said, after a fact-finding mission to Lesotho this month, that habeas corpus applications brought to the courts by relatives of the detained soldiers indicated that many had been “snatched” or “kidnapped” by heavily-armed, masked men dressed in black “with no clear procedure of arrest, no arrest warrants, and no clarity of charges under which the arrests were effected”.
The habeas corpus applications also alleged “a pattern of abuse and torture”, Salc said. “Once abducted, the soldiers were typically taken to Sedibeng, in an area that is particularly cold and where it often snows in the mountains.
“Here the detainees were forced to walk on ice, sprayed with cold water or thrown into a frozen and dirty stream. Wet and in the cold, they are then tied to a pole and hooded overnight whilst being insulted and asked for information. While tied, some detainees are beaten and gun shots are fired around them.”
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