Mexico: Sexual violence routinely used as torture to secure “confessions” from women

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Amnesty International

Mexico: Sexual violence routinely used as torture to secure “confessions” from women

28 June 2016, 05:00 UTC

An unprecedented Amnesty International investigation of 100 women arrested in Mexico reveals that they are routinely sexually abused by the security forces who want to secure confessions and boost figures in an attempt to show that they are tackling rampant organized crime.

All of the 100 women held in federal prisons who reported torture or other ill-treatment to Amnesty International said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or psychological abuse during their arrest and interrogation by municipal, state or federal police officers or members of the Army and Navy. Seventy-two said they were sexually abused during their arrest or in the hours that followed. Thirty-three reported being raped.

Sixty-six of the women said they had reported the abuse to a judge or other authorities but investigations were opened in only 22 cases. Amnesty International is not aware of any criminal charges arising from these investigations.

“These women’s stories paint an utterly shocking snapshot of the level of torture against women in Mexico, even by local standards. Sexual violence used as a form of torture seems to have become a routine part of interrogations,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.


Read more: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/06/mexico-sexual-violence-routinely-used-as-torture-to-secure-confessions-from-women/

[Midnight Writer]

1. Is this the kind of thing Trump had in mind when he said waterboarding was only a beginning?

[Night Watchman]

5. We've Already Supported This Practice

at our "rendition" sites in foreign countries during the Iraq War, with the local thugs targeting women and men.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Innocent women tortured in Mexico to boost arrest figures, report says

Innocent women tortured in Mexico to boost arrest figures, report says

Research finds women were illegally arrested and raped to justify war on drugs and only a handful of perpetrators in law enforcement have been prosecuted

Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Monday 27 June 2016 23.30 EDT

Tailyn Wang was two months pregnant when federal police officers broke into her house in Mexico City, ripped off her nightgown and threw her to the ground. They groped her breasts while punching and kicking her in front of her terrified children, before taking her blindfolded to a police base – without an arrest warrant.

The officers continued to physically and sexually abuse her until she miscarried in the attorney general’s office in Mexico City. Instead of receiving medical attention, she was transferred, still bleeding, to a prison hundreds of miles away. Here, several days after the illegal arrest, Wang was told she was accused of kidnap and organised crime.

More than two years later, Wang, a 35-year-old Peruvian cook, remains in prison awaiting trial, struggling with severe pain in her jaw, shoulders and back. Her mother has been granted a humanitarian visa in Mexico to care for her three traumatized children, now aged seven, 10 and 17.

Wang is one of scores of innocent women illegally arrested and tortured by Mexican security services looking to boost arrest figures to justify the war on drugs, according to damning new research by Amnesty International.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/27/mexico-torture-amnesty-report-innocent-women

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

Sometimes I hate humans.

[JudyM]

6. +1. And 2/3 of the rapes reported weren't prosecuted, apparently.

[Hulk]

4. Is anyone surprised?

I'm certainly not. Wouldn't be surprised if it occurs here at times, in places.

[yourpaljoey]

7. I am certain it occurs far more often all over the world...

... and has throughout history.