Concerns in Europe January June 2001
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Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 Following a fifth unsuccessful deportation attempt on 24 May, it was alleged that:
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during Ibrahim Bah’s transfer to the airport escorting officers kicked him and struck his face while he lay face down, bound hand and foot, on the floor of the van; ·
in an airport isolation cell further restraints were secured so tightly and painfully that his circulation was affected and his hands became numb;
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in the cell officers hit him, including in the genital area, tried to put a foam mattress on him, impeding his respiration, until another officer intervened to stop them; ·
en route to the plane escorting officers punched and kicked him and laughed at him while doing so; ·
around six officers took him by force on board Flight SN689 to Abidjan and punched him when he began shouting and screaming in protest against his deportation; ·
Minister for Transport and internal gendarmerie guidelines explicitly banning methods of restraint involving the full or partial obstruction of the airways of a deportee, officers forced a handkerchief in his mouth and applied heavy pressure to his thorax, using a cushion to press down on his chest; ·
passengers on board the flight protested about the deportation and, following their intervention, he was taken off the plane but ill-treated again in the transport van which took him back to the isolation cell. There he was seen briefly by a doctor who apparently did not, however, provide any medical assistance; ·
after about an hour he was returned to the prison and during the transfer again assaulted in the transport van; ·
during the deportation operation officers also subjected him to threats and racist abuse. He claimed that, after he had gone without food or drink for a number of hours and asked the officers for a drink, an officer told him to open his mouth so that he could urinate into it; officers told him that Belgium was for Belgians and Africa for Africans, that they did not want to pay taxes for him to be fed in a Belgian prison and that he was going to be deported - dead or alive.
examined him on 25 May recorded, among other things, injuries to his mouth, injuries consistent with restraints kept in place for several hours, paraesthesia in his arms, blood issuing from his penis, and his poor psychological state. It also recorded the doctor’s request for an X-ray to be carried out as soon as possible and the agreement of the prison nurse that it should be carried out on 28 May, as well as the prison’s agreement to the doctor’s request for a urologist to examine Ibrahim Bah. The doctor also prescribed medication. The medical report concluded that the overall symptoms and injuries recorded were consistent with the allegations. At a 30 May meeting between the Ministry of Interior, several MPs and representatives of domestic NGOs, the Ministry apparently promised that Ibrahim Bah would be examined by a doctor and psychologist before midday on 30 May - however, these examinations had not taken place by the afternoon of 31 May.
On the evening of 31 May, a week after the deportation attempt, Ibrahim Bah was visited in Saint- Gilles prison by a team of three doctors appointed by the Ministry of Interior and composed of one doctor apparently attached to the Aliens Bureau falling under the auspices of that Ministry, and two doctors apparently attached to the offices of the Minister of Health.
A Brussels MP, after visiting Ibrahim Bah on 4 June, reported publicly that he had still not received any of the treatment prescribed by his private doctor on 25 May or promised by the Ministry of Interior on 30 May. According to Ibrahim Bah he received none of this treatment until some two weeks after the attempted deportation of 24 May. On 5 June 17 MPs drew the allegations of ill- treatment and subsequent medical neglect to the attention of the Brussels Prosecutor’s Office and to the Permanent Monitoring Committee of Police Services. Ibrahim Bah was released from prison on 11 June after a Brussels court ruled that his continued imprisonment was illegal, in view of the length of time he had already spent in administrative detention. He was then ordered to leave the country within five days. In its letter to the Minister AI sought clarification about the steps being taken to investigate the allegations of ill-treatment and medical neglect and urged that an independent investigation should include questioning of Ibrahim Bah himself, the identification and interviewing of possible eye- witnesses to his treatment on board Flight SN689 of 24 May to Abidjan, the interviewing of MPs and domestic NGOs who saw him in prison following the deportation attempts, as well as the examination of all available medical evidence. AI also urged that Ibrahim Bah should not be deported before the completion of a full and independent investigation. In a letter of 26 June the Minister confirmed that he had sent three doctors to examine Ibrahim Bah and asked the General Inspectorate of Police for a report on the 24 May operation. He said that, after questioning the escorting officers, executives of the airport security detachment, the relevant airline pilot, the duty doctor at the airport and a member of the airline security staff, the General Inspectorate of Police, in a 30 May report, had concluded that the allegations could not be proven: the prescribed procedures had been scrupulously respected, all the statements were unanimous and there had been no use of a pillow or any other covering of the mouth. On 1 June the three doctors had submitted a written report, two pictures and an additional report relating to an urology examination. The Minister said that their reports showed that no particular injuries had been observed and that Ibrahim Bah was receiving all the medication prescribed by his private doctor, apart Yüklə 1,36 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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