About a hundred people were tortured by security forces in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. In an article for African Arguments, I revealed that detainees were systematically tortured by soldiers in the dank basement of the army’s Secretariat d’Etat à la Défense (SED) building, nicknamed the Bunker.
I spoke with several of the detainees about their arrest, and months of torture by security forces. Today, most are still jailed without trial.
The Bunker has a couple dozen cells where detainees are crammed so tight they are unable to sleep on their back. In addition, every day they would get tortured.
It’s not the first time that torture at the Bunker has been exposed, but what’s new is that now nearly all of the detainees are anglophones and accused of being part of an armed group.
I’ve reported extensively about Cameroon’s deepening political and humanitarian crisis, looking at its political roots and consequences, the widespread human rights violations, and even spending a week with an anglophone armed group.