Ethiopian security forces are conducting various forms of torture on 28 ethnic Amhara prisoners, the online based media outlet Voice of Amhara (VoA) reported on Monday.
Voice of Amhara reported the prisoners who include engineers, police officers, civil servants, and businesspeople have had their finger nails ripped off by pliers, are being subjected to electric shocks, being beaten by electric cables as well as being assaulted by rifle butts.
VoA further reported the 28 prisoners who were initially held at a special forces camp in Gelan city near Addis Ababa are now housed in the Federal Police Criminal Investigation Bureau in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
The media outlet further reported some of the detainees have fallen into mental illnesses and physical injuries caused by the tortures they are enduring.
The mass arrests and tortures of ethnic Amharas in various parts of Ethiopia coincides with an ongoing security crackdown in Amhara region, the country’s second most populous region.
Earlier this month, the state backed Ethiopia Human Rights Commission (EHRC) disclosed a number of deaths and injuries have occurred during deadly protests in the Amhara region.
