Cameroonian English-speaking separatist figure Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy, known as Shu Fai, "suffered degrading treatment" at the hospital where he was transferred from the prison where he is detained, says the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) Friday. Sentenced to life in prison in August 2019 for terrorism, rebellion and secession by a military court, Shu Fai was transferred to hospital on May 16 before being imprisoned again on May 21 "despite a critical state of health" , HRW added in a press release.
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One of the leaders of the English-speaking separatists who have opposed the government for three years in a conflict that has left 3,000 dead, including many civilians in the English-speaking regions of western Cameroon, Blaise Sevidzem Berinyuy has been arrested along with nine other figures from the movement in Nigeria in January 2018. Shu Fai complains of "chest pain following a clash he suffered from prison guards who tied him to his sick bed with handcuffs" , one of his lawyers, Mr. Nicodemus Amungwa, told AFP. According to this lawyer, the prisoner accused the prison official of having ordered this sequence.
"As the authorities fight the Covid-19 pandemic, they should ensure that all detainees can benefit from measures such as washing their hands regularly and having adequate access to medical care," said HRW. With 4,400 detected cases of the new coronavirus, Cameroon is one of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In early May, the NGO Amnesty International said in a statement that it feared the spread of the virus in overcrowded prisons in the country (around 30,000 detainees across Cameroon, according to the Cameroonian bar).