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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000559 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2016 
TAGS: MARR PGOV PHUM PREL TN
SUBJECT: ALLEGATIONS OF SECURITY FORCE ABUSE OF RIOT 
SUSPECTS IN TONGA 
 
REF: SUVA 530 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR LARRY M. DINGER.  SECTIONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: An employee from a Tonga NGO has released a 
report alleging inhumane prison conditions and physical abuse 
of prisoners arrested after Tonga's November 16 riot (see 
reftels).  The Tonga government and military have denied the 
charges, and there is some debate about the report's 
accuracy.  However, according to several independent 
observers, some of the alleged abuses did take place. 
Further investigations are planned by United Nations offices, 
as well as national authorities.  News sources report that 
more than 700 people have been arrested, some 100 of whom 
remain in custody.  At the same time, the Tongan government 
has extended emergency powers for another 30-day period until 
January 16, 2007.  End Summary. 
 
Abuse Allegations 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Angus McLean, a legal aid worker from Australia who 
has worked with the National Center for Women and Children in 
Tonga for the last three years, has issued a 16-page report 
titled "The Systematic Torture and Abuse of Prisoners by the 
Government of Tonga Following Civil Unrest in November 2006." 
 The report is based on interviews with prisoners arrested 
and released prior to November 30th, and its author 
specifically noted it is not an exhaustive study.  Following 
the November 16 riot, Tongan Defense Service (TDS) troops 
joined Tongan police officers in joint operations to search 
out those persons suspected of having participated in the 
looting and arson.  Foreign police officers from Australia 
and New Zealand who were sent to assist in the restoration of 
order are explicitly not accused of any abuses in the report, 
and others have told us the foreign law enforcement officers 
were not involved in the arrests. 
 
¶3. (U) According to the report, TDS personnel were the main 
perpetrators of the violence against detainees, in many cases 
using rifle butts to hit detainees on the head in the course 
of arrests.  The report contains several accounts from 
different prisoners detailing this physical violence.  In 
addition, the interviewees recount seeing other prisoners 
with injuries they believed to have resulted from beatings. 
The report cites testimony that a number of prisoners were 
beaten by the police prior to being placed in their cells. 
The report contains several pictures of injuries, but it is 
impossible to tell how the injuries were sustained. 
 
¶4. (U) The report also describes inhumane conditions within 
the detention facilities.  Nuku'alofa's main detention 
center, the city police station, has seven cells designed to 
hold 16 individuals each.  According to prisoner statements 
cited in the McLean report, there were sometimes up to four 
times that amount detained in each cell.  In addition, the 
toilet facilities were inadequate and prisoners desiring to 
use them required a police escort.  Since police escorts were 
not always forthcoming, prisoners were reduced to relieving 
themselves on the floors of their crowded cells where many 
also had to sleep because of overcrowding.  Food and washing 
facilities were insufficient. 
 
¶5. (U) In addition, the report estimates that approximately 
40 children were detained, the youngest around 13 years old. 
These detainees reportedly have been housed with adults. 
 
¶6. (U) Although none of the prisoners interviewed for 
McLean's report claimed to have personally experienced 
violence during interrogation, one of them estimated that 
approximately 40% of the prisoners in his cell had been 
subjected to some sort of physical violence during 
questioning.  Violence included slapping and punching, as 
well as being handcuffed for extended periods of time, 
allegedly for three days in once instance. 
 
¶7. (U) None of the prisoners interviewed stated that they 
were ever offered an opportunity to contact a lawyer or 
family member while in custody.  According to the report, 
requests for this type of contact were ignored by the police 
officers.  Families interviewed for the report stated that 
they did not know their relations were in custody. 
 
Report True? 
 
SUVA 00000559  002 OF 003 
 
 
------------ 
 
¶8. (C) UNICEF sources told EmbOff the board of the Center for 
Women and Children initially cleared the report for release 
to UNICEF.  However, he said, when the report was 
subsequently leaked to the media, the board, which includes 
several Tongan government officials, distanced itself and 
said it had not cleared the report prior to release. 
 
¶9. (U) Soon after the report's release, TDS officials 
condemned the report as untrue and politically driven. 
Tongan Government Spokesman Lopeti Senituli, in response to 
media inquiries, stated the government does not condone 
torture or physical abuse, and TDS and police commanders are 
constantly reminding their officers to "treat detainees with 
respect."  However, the statement goes on to remind the 
public that the Emergency Powers Regulations allow the police 
and TDS "...to use such force as may be reasonably necessary 
to preserve public order." 
 
¶10. (C) A prominent member of the democracy movement and 
Tonga's former minister of police, Clive Edwards, told EmbOff 
that he has seen numerous people who had been arrested and 
released and who showed clear signs of having been beaten. 
He said he has personally seen at least one broken nose and 
cases of missing teeth among this group.  He said the TDS was 
chiefly to blame for abusing those arrested. 
 
¶11. (C) Catholic Women's League Director Betty Blake told 
Emboff that she agrees with the content of the report and is 
glad it highlights the treatment of arrested children. 
According to Blake, she recently interviewed two 
sixteen-year-olds who were arrested and released without 
being charged.  One of them told her that when he was 
arrested, the police started physically abusing him outside 
the station so he ran into the building where there were 
light and witnesses.  The other sixteen-year-old was cuffed 
on the ear.  Blake is part of the "Youth Justice Diversionary 
Program" set up by government to deal with the young riot 
offenders.  According to Blake, the youngest arrested 
offender is twelve years old. 
 
¶12. (C) Leaders of a major association of Christian churches 
have written to PM Sevele to report that their churches have 
also received complaints of mistreatment of prisoners while 
in jail.  One witness allegedly told the group he was beaten 
and had a gun pointed at his knee before he was interviewed 
by a police inspector.  Others reportedly showed bruises and 
black eyes, which they said resulted from their arrests. 
 
UN to investigate 
----------------- 
 
¶13. (C) After receiving the McLean report, UNICEF wrote to 
the Government of Tonga asking for a reaction, but the 
Government of Tonga did not respond.  According to the head 
of the Suva regional UN office, the United Nations Special 
Rapporteur on Torture for Human Rights subsequently wrote to 
the Government of Tonga but has also not received a response 
to date. 
 
¶14. (C) The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner 
for Human Rights in Bangkok intends to send an investigative 
team to Tonga this week.  UNICEF also hoped to send someone 
to Tonga this week to focus on the status of the child 
detainees but was told to delay its visit until the third 
week of January. 
 
¶15. (C) The regional office of the International Committee of 
the Red Cross in Suva told us that a Red Cross representative 
visited the Nuku'alofa jail to investigate the claims of 
maltreatment and has presented his findings to the Tonga 
government.  This report cannot, he said, be shared with 
third parties, and he could not comment on its findings. 
 
Arrests and Emergency Powers Continue 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶16. (C) The number of people arrested or in custody as a 
result of the riots has been steadily rising.  According to 
the news website Matangi Tonga, Tongan police say 702 people 
have been arrested in relation to the riots, 107 of whom 
remain in jail.  Clive Edwards claims that up to 300 people 
remain in custody under seriously crowded circumstances. 
 
SUVA 00000559  003 OF 003 
 
 
However, Edwards, who has been hired to seek bail for at 
least eight detainees, has not been to the jail to know 
firsthand the conditions there.  He said that neither he nor 
other attorneys have been allowed into the off-limits zone 
where the rioting occurred and where the police station is. 
Defendants are not being brought to court for bail hearings, 
he said, and none have been granted bail.  He accused the 
authorities of holding prisoners until injuries sustained 
during arrest have healed. 
 
¶17. (C) The first group of those charged is to appear in 
court beginning Wednesday, December 20.  There are rumors 
that pro-democracy advocates will protest the arrests and 
detentions at that time.  The Tongan government has extended 
its emergency powers for another 30-day period, ending 
January 16, in part because of concerns about possible 
further demonstrations.  Edwards said that he believes there 
will be no trouble on the 20th, since the police and TDS have 
intimidated people.  The hearings will take place within the 
off-limits zone, access to which is controlled by the TDS. 
 
Comment: Elements of Truth 
-------------------------- 
 
¶18. (C) It is difficult to determine how true the reports of 
abuse are.  Firsthand evidence is still sketchy.  The McLean 
report, based as it is on secondhand material, is 
problematic.  Some of those in custody certainly have a 
strong anti-government bias and a political agenda.  It seems 
obvious as well that some members of the pro-democracy camp 
such as Edwards are relishing the report as a means of 
redirecting attention toward security forces and government 
after the ignominy of the riot.  Tonga's ever-churning rumor 
mill seems to have concluded that the report, although 
exaggerated, clearly has elements of truth.  Given the level 
of detail in the report and the judgments of reputable 
contacts about it, our fear is that there is probably some 
truth to the allegations.  We will continue to follow-up. 
DINGER