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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Panama
Faces Probe Over Alleged Torture
(CNN) - The Inter-American Court of Human
Rights has been asked to investigate whether
Panama tortured an Ecuadorian citizen who
was being held as an illegal immigrant, an
official hemispheric human rights
organization said.
Jesus Tranquilino Velez Loor was arrested
November 11, 2002, and deported to Ecuador
on September 10, 2003. During that time, he
was held without receiving procedural
guarantees, the right to be heard and the
right to present a defense, said the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
"The case also involves the lack of
investigation of complaints of torture
presented by Mr. Velez Loor before the
Panamanian authorities, as well as the
inhumane conditions of detention under which
he was held in several Panamanian
penitentiaries," the human rights commission
said in a release Tuesday.
The human rights panel, which is part of the
35-nation Organization of American States,
said it referred the case to the court last
week because Panama did not adopt sufficient
measures to address issues raised in a
previous commission report.
Velez Loor "was sentenced to a prison term
for having repeatedly entered Panama
illegally. ... Panamanian law provides that
foreign nationals, who repeatedly enter
Panama, without the necessary papers, will
be imprisoned for two years and then
deported," Panama said in a 2006 report.
Velez Loor admitted he had gone into Panama
without proper papers or visas.
The commission said it received an e-mailed
complaint from Velez Loor on February 10,
2004, "in which he claims to have undergone
torture, forced isolation, and mistreatment
at the hands of Panamanian police officers
at two Panamanian detention centers without
being given the opportunity to defend
himself, without the benefit of any court of
law, without being allowed to make a
telephone call and while being deprived of
all medical care."
Panama denied those allegations in the 2006
human rights commission report.
Officials at the Panamanian embassy in
Washington did not return a telephone
request Tuesday from CNN for comment on the
latest development.
The human rights commission consists of
seven members who act in a personal
capacity, without representing any country,
and who are elected by the OAS General
Assembly.
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