These times of the year are a time of family reunions, the illusion of seeing family members we haven’t seen for a long time, and joy. Unfortunately, not every family in the world can enjoy moments like this. In Equatorial Guinea, there are homes where security forces have made some of their members “disappear” and during these closures, their absences are even more difficult.
This will be the birth of the family of Joaquín Elo Ayeto, human rights defender in Equatorial Guinea arrested on August 1, 2024. He was arrested at his home in Malabo. Gendarmes broke into his house and took him away. I was accused of carrying out illegal activities through the civil society platform Somos+, a member of which, according to the authorities, is not legally registered. On August 13 of that year, I was transferred to Oveng Azem Prison, Mongomo town, and since then I have not heard from him.
On July 27, 2018, the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, inaugurated the Oveng Azem penitentiary center, in the eastern part of the country’s continental zone, a few kilometers from the border with Gabon. The penitentiary center, with a capacity of 500 inmates, was, according to the same president, the government’s response to criticism aimed at it for the poor treatment of prisoners admitted to prison. With this project, the Equatorial Guinean government wanted to show the world its desire to offer better treatment to prisoners.
But the reality is that Oveng Azem has become little more of the same in Equatorial Guinea: a center of torture, disappearances and human rights violations. A center where prisoners are sent with the aim of isolating them and making them desperate. Keeping them close to their families, without access to their lawyers, without news from the outside world, is to lose all hope.
Elo Ayeto’s family knew that his human rights work had been problematic for several years. According to them, when someone suffered from malaria and typhoid. There is uncertainty about your whereabouts and the health of your family. “We are in a bad situation. We don’t know anything about him. When the phone calls we are afraid. We don’t know if someone will give us news of him or if they will just bring us the corpse,” a family member said in an interview with Amnistía Internacional.
A few months ago, a member of Elo Ayeto’s family traveled the 400 kilometers from Malabo, the country’s capital, to Mongomo, with the intention of visiting it. When he arrived there, he said he could not see him, because Oveng Azem did not allow the detainees to be seen. When I reached the prison gate, the family knew nothing about him.
When the phone rings, we are afraid. We don’t know if it will be someone who will give us news or simply take us back to the corpse.
Elo Ayeto’s family is not the only one suffering. The wife of another human rights defender imprisoned in Ovenz Azem since April 2024 laments: “Honestly, since they destroyed my husband, I can’t wait. hands of God. » The families are there without worry: Oveng Azem is a place where death is present.
In 2023, the opposition group MLGE3R (Movimiento por la Liberación de Guinea Ecuatorial Tercera República) announced the death in custody of Julio Obama Mefuman, a 61-year-old Spanish citizen and member of the group. They accused the Equatorial Guinean authorities of having tortured him. Obama was serving a 60-year prison sentence, accused of plotting a coup. Authorities there confirmed that Julio Obama died in hospital, but rejected any accusation that he had been tortured. The European Parliament and the Spanish authorities requested the repatriation of the corpse, but until the closure, the family of Julio Obama could not recover his body.
What you can only say
Manuel (fictitious name for security reasons) is a political activist who was once arrested with one of his colleagues in a foreign country and then taken to Equatorial Guinea. Allí the sometieron has a court full of irregularities, in what cannot be seen by your lawyer and in what cannot be expressed. I was then sentenced to 54 years in prison. He spent a few months at Black Beach Prison in Malabo, after which he was transferred to Bata Prison until he was finally taken to Oveng Azem, where he spent only five years and one month. Manuel remembers every day he spent there. He managed to get through it because he thought his delicate state of health would help him. Say that in Oveng Azem the huts are recently built, that there is water and light, but that the food is terrible and that this has ended up with young people dying in poverty.
For Manuel, living in Oveng Azem meant living in total isolation. “Don’t see the nadie. No visits from lawyers, no family. Nothing at all. The outside world no longer exists. We don’t know what is happening beyond these walls”, describes Amnesty International. For him, it was his worst concern. One day he left his house and left his family behind. I couldn’t say goodbye to them, I couldn’t give them a sad explanation. His family thought Manuel had simply disappeared. But Manuel woke up from it every day. “When I was in prison, my concern was how my people were living. I had no communication with them. I felt like my family had been taken away. It was a very bad time. I had no information about them. It’s just that this pain and this anguish will never be forgotten.”
You don’t see Nadie. No visits from lawyers, no visits from family. Nothing at all. The outside world ceases to exist. You don’t know what’s going on beyond these walls
The Government of Equatorial Guinea must urgently comply with international human rights law and ensure that all detainees, including those held at Oveng Azem, are protected from torture and other ill-treatment, in addition to ensuring that they are incarcerated in humane conditions and have access to family members. lawyer.
Oveng Azem cannot continue to be in a prison where his prisoners are locked up until they are destroyed, freed from all hope and separated from their families. Joaquín Elo and other human rights defenders imprisoned exclusively for carrying out their legitimate work must be released immediately. During these closures, families in Equatorial Guinea must also have the opportunity to reunite all their members.
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