Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is sharing with you the interview conducted with the mother of one of the five men we reported to have been tortured and continuously held in detention over questionable charges. The victim’s mother described in tears the visible torture injuries she had seen of her son and his companion when she first met him in police custody.
UPDATED INFORMATION:
As mentioned in our previous appeal, AHRC-UAC-133-2010, Lenin Salas and four companions, Rodwin Tala, Jose Gomez, Daniel Navarro and Jerry Simbulan, had been tortured inside a police station after they were arbitrarily arrested.
Following is an video interview conducted by Virafiles, an alternative news organization, with Mrs. Fanny Salas published via Youtube on September 26, 2010. This video interview was also shared to us by DEFEND Central Luzon, a local human rights organization helping the torture victims.
Mrs. Fanny Salas, mother of Lenin Salas:
My son (Lenin Salas), his hair was disheveled and appeared they were pulled to disarray. He was very dirty, his face suffered visible contusions. When I hug him, he told me mommy, mommy they tortured me. I also saw his companions with him. They could hardly stand. They were so weak.
Ms. Aurora Broquil, secretary general, Defend Central Luzon:
The emerging pattern here (Pampanga province) are abductions and torture. What is extremely unfortunate is that the extent of violation no longer focused on the victims themselves, (but) it also had tremendous impact as they target leaders and members purposely to sow fear not only within the organization but the entire community as well.
On August 10, 2010, Lenin had also been interviewed by the Al Jazeera in Manila. Below is the excerpt of Lenin’s interview after this link to the report’s video:
Lenin Salas:
I was tortured for eighteen hours, beaten for eighteen hours; they kept interrogating me repeatedly forcing me to admit that I was behind all the murders here in Pampanga. They said that if I don’t admit them they will kill my family.
It is fine if they charged me with anything as long as there is due process (but there was none).
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
