Rights group Amnesty International has called on the Mozambican authorities to launch an independent probe into alleged torture and extrajudicial executions of civilians by the country’s security force.
Amnesty International said on Wednesday that it had video and picture evidence showing “the attempted beheading, torture and other ill-treatment of prisoners; the dismemberment of alleged opposition fighters; possible extrajudicial executions; and the transport and discarding of a large number of corpses into apparent mass graves.”
“The horrific videos and photos we analysed are evidence of the serious human rights violations and shocking violence that has been taking place in Cabo Delgado, away from the international spotlight,” Amnesty International’s East and Southern Africa regional director Deprose Muchena said.
The soldiers allegedly committing the atrocities in the videos are wearing the uniforms of the Mozambique Armed Defense Forces and the Mozambique Rapid Intervention Police.
“The government of Mozambique must now order a swift, transparent and impartial investigation to bring all those responsible for such crimes to justice in fair trials,” Muchena said.
The alleged atrocities come in the wake of a recent surge in violence in northern Mozambique where fighters from a group known locally as Al-Shabaab have been attacking members of the security forces and villagers.
In several videos, the soldiers refer to their captives as Al-Shabaab, a common local name for the Islamist armed group in Cabo Delgado.
Amnesty International called on the Mozambican authorities to immediately order the security forces to stop the ill-treatment of detainees and other human rights violations in Cabo Delgado.
JN/APA