Another Man Dies In Police Custody!

Mr. Khan Ernest, 22 years old, died March 31, 2006 in Police custody, Kumba. He is said to have “collapsed in the cell and was taken out and abandoned in the corridor, where he died hours later. A forensic expert from Douala has established that the youth died from a severe cranial injury and blood clot in his head, which he attributed to violence”. (See attached letter from Global Conscience Initiative, a Kumba based advocacy group, to Cameroon’s Minister of Justice).

The Legal Department in Kumba is reported to have remanded another detainee who is said to have beaten Mr. Khan in the police cell. Even as official investigations are said to be ongoing, it is far from clear whether they will reveal: what led to the alleged beating of Mr. Khan; conditions in the cell; how Mr. Khan came to be found outside the cell and abandoned in the corridor, where he died hours later, in police custody.

Mr. Khan’s detention appears also to have been arbitrary. He was detained as a suspect in a stolen bicycle case. The owner of the stolen bicycle is reported to have seen it with a certain Mr. Gospel Penn, who said Mr. Khan gave him the bicycle. The bicycle owner took his allegations to the police and Mr. Khan was arrested. The police are still to find Mr. Gospel Penn.

The preventable rough treatment and death of Mr. Khan follows that of another man in Kumba, two years ago, whom a police set “ablaze after having cuffed his hands behind and forced him to drink kerosene. The suspect later on died and the police inspector was found guilty of torture and of assault occasioning death.” (See attached Global Conscience Press Release).

This dire situation of people including detainees in Cameroon is not limited to the police in Kumba. Violations of individual rights and freedoms are widespread in Cameroon State services and society. Some of these have been widely documented and followed-up, with consequences that have been less than comprehensive. (See some of our several reports and also those of the African Union’s Africa Commission Special Rapporteur on Prisons and Conditions of Detention, and those of the UN ESCOR Commission on Human Rights).

Nevertheless, and sad as it is, Mr. Khan’s death provides great opportunity to raise individual rights and freedoms issues including those of detainees anew, and seek purposeful clarifications from not just the Minister of Justice in Cameroon, but also from other authorities and society as a whole. The issues include:

(1) The exact circumstances that led to Mr. Khan’s arrest, his detention conditions and subsequent death;

(2) The role of the police and other State services in guaranteeing freedom and security for each individual, including detainees;

(3) Policy guidelines and funding arrangements that were/are in place to enable the police and other State services to meet their responsibilities towards each individual in wider society and in detention;

(4) The extent to which those policy guidelines and funding arrangements were made operational in the particular case of Mr. Khan; and,

(5) What improvements, if any, are now needed to circumvent further individual rights and freedoms abuses in our police and other State services?

We would, therefore, like to invite you and everyone you know, to contribute as much as you can, to ensure:

(a) Adept monitoring and follow-up of the official investigation that is said to be ongoing, and perhaps designing and undertaking other enquiries, so that all facets of Mr. Khan’s arrest, detention and death are addressed adequately;

(b) Broad debate on what the police and other State services can, or what we would like them to, do and be doing so our individual rights and freedoms including those of detainees are guaranteed;

(c) Discussion of specific laws, conventions, executive orders, and other guidelines including budgets and the quality of staff at various levels in our police and related State services;

(d) Systematic investigation and broader discussion of the way(s) existing police and related State services policies and funds allocated to Kumba were put to work or not in the case of Mr. Khan; and,

(e) Discussion and adoption of reforms that may be needed.

Details at the EITD Research Public Policy Forums.