N’Djamena – A group of 44 suspected members of Boko
Haram, arrested during a recent operation against the jihadist group, have been
found dead in their prison cell, apparently poisoned, Chad’s chief prosecutor
announced on Saturday.
Speaking on national television, Youssouf Tom said
the 44 prisoners had been found dead in their cell on Thursday. An autopsy carried out on four of the dead
prisoners revealed traces of a lethal substance that had caused heart attacks
in some of the victims and severe asphyxiation in the others, he said.
The dead men were among a group of 58 suspects
captured during a major army operation around Lake Chad launched by President
Idriss Deby Itno at the end of March.
“Following the fighting around Lake Chad, 58
members of Boko Haram had been taken prisoner and sent to Ndjamena for the
purposes of the investigation,” said Tom.
“On Thursday morning, their jailers told us
that 44 prisoners had been found dead in their cell,” Tom said, adding
that he had attended the scene.
“We have buried 40 bodies and sent four bodies
to the medical examiner for autopsy.”
An investigation was ongoing to determine exactly
how the prisoners had died, he said.
‘It’s horrible’
A security source, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told AFP that “the 58 prisoners were placed in a single cell
and were given nothing to eat or drink for two days”.
Mahamat Nour Ahmed Ibedou, secretary general of the
Chadian Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (CTDDH), made similar
accusations.
Prison officials had “locked the prisoners in
a small cell and refusing them food and water for three days because they were
accused of belonging to Boko Haram”, Ibedou told AFP. “It’s horrible
what has happened.”
READ | Boko Haram attack kills nearly 100 Chadian troops
The government denied the allegations.
“There was no ill-treatment,” Chad
Justice Minister, Djimet Arabi, told AFP by telephone.
“Toxic substances were found in their
stomachs. Was it collective suicide or something else? We’re still looking for
answers,” he said, adding that the investigation was still ongoing.
One of the prisoners was transferred to hospital on
Thursday, but he was “faring much better” and had rejoined “the
other 13 prisoners still alive and who are doing very well,” the minister
said.
Major operation against Boko Haram
Earlier this week, the minister told AFP the
captured men had been transferred to Ndjamena on Tuesday evening and handed
over to the court system for trial.
The military operation against Boko Haram killed
more than a thousand of the group’s militants and cost the lives of 52
soldiers, a Chadian army spokesperson said. The operation ran from 31 March to 8
April.
It was launched in response to a devastating attack
on Chadian troops on 23 March on a base at Bohoma, in the Lake Chad marshlands,
that killed 98 soldiers. It was the largest one-day loss the army has ever
suffered.
Since then, Idriss has warned his allies in the
region that Chad’s army will no longer take part in operations outside the
country.
The force, considered one of the best in the
region, has fought Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region as part of the Joint
Multinational Force with Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger.
But on Friday, French Defence Minister Florence
Parly said Chad remained committed to the G5 Sahel anti-jihadist force
operating in the region.