DAVAO CITY – Human rights group Karapatan wrote the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (UN SPT) to visit and look into the conditions of a breastfeeding mother detained at the Taguig City Jail.
In a letter addressed to UNSPT head of delegation Malcolm Evans, Karapatan also urged the UN SPT to visit political prisoners in Special Intensive Care Area-1 (SICA-1) at Camp Bagong Diwa who recently filed complaints against jail warden Michelle Ng-Bonto for violations of RA 7438 that pertains to the rights of detained persons.
On April 13, the Quezon Regional Trial Court Branch 65 denied the motion of Miradel Torres, a breastfeeding mother, to quash information for charges of murder and frustrated murder.
Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay and Chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan said it wanted the UN body to hear torture survivors air out their experiences to give them a look into the plight of political prisoners, especially Miradel Torres.
Palabay said that the Camp Bagong Diwa prisoners filed their complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Taguig Regional Trial Court
The UN delegation is set to visit on May 25 to June 3.
As of March 31, Karapatan documened 527 political prisoners, 220 of them were arrested under the Aquino administration.
Torres is among the 43 women political detainees while there are 42 are elderly and 60 are with ailments.
Karapatan also documented 110 victims of torture, despite the existence of the Anti-Torture Law.
“But none of the state perpetrators of torture were brought to jail,” said Palabay.
