naked inmates
at the Cebu city jail sitting during a joint raid by the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency and Cebu Police provincial office on illegal drugs and
contrabands.<br />Photos showing hundreds of prisoners in a Philippine
jail sitting naked while being searched for contraband have triggered
accusations of further rights abuses in President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war
on drugs. The inmates of the Cebu provincial jail were woken before dawn on
February 28, herded into the jail’s quadrangle and forced to strip while
anti-drug agents, police and military searched their cells, prison officer
Rafael Espina told AFP. / AFP PHOTO / CEBU PROVINCIAL POLICE OFFICE / Merlie
DACUNOS /
Photos showing hundreds of prisoners in a Philippine jail sitting
naked while being searched for contraband have triggered accusations of further
rights abuses in President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.
The inmates of the Cebu provincial jail were woken before dawn on
Tuesday, herded into the jail’s quadrangle and forced to strip while anti-drug
agents, police and military searched their cells, prison officer Rafael Espina
told AFP.
Photos released by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and provincial
police showed the inmates sitting naked and cross legged in neat rows on the
concrete quadrangle, illuminated by spotlights, as armed police guarded them.
A statement released by the drug enforcement agency said the raid
had netted “several packets” of methamphetamines and marijuana leaves, as well
as knives and mobile phones.
With the photos gaining traction on social media, human rights
groups voiced concern.
“This incident clearly amounts to cruel, inhumane and degrading
treatment of prisoners,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
Amnesty cited United Nations’ standards and Philippine laws in
highlighting the obligation of authorities to ensure prisoners were not
subjected to torture or ill-treatment.
Human Rights Watch also said international standards prohibited
searches that intimidated or unnecessarily intruded upon a prisoner’s privacy.
“The conduct of these searches — out in the open and permitting
photographs to be taken — was inhuman and degrading and violated the prisoners’
rights to privacy,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Derrick Carreon said
the stripping of the inmates was on the order of the provincial governor and
the guards.
“We just provide technical expertise,” he said.
Provincial government information officer Jethro Bacolod told AFP
the mass stripping was “an SOP”, or standard operating procedure for raids to
detect contraband.
He said the prison warden had been sacked because of the
contraband that was found during the raid.
The Cebu prison became famous in 2007 due to popular YouTube
videos showing inmates performing choreographed dances to hits such as Michael
Jackson’s “Thriller”.
Duterte has been waging a controversial war on drugs that has seen
police and unidentified assailants kill thousands of people over the past eight
months.
Amnesty has warned the killings may amount to a crime against
humanity.
Duterte, who remains popular with many Filipinos, has said human
rights must take a backseat to defeating the much greater menace of illegal
drugs ravaging society.
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