Prisoner abuse in island Kingdom
Rioting erupted on the streets of Tonga on 16 November. Police and soldiers were given emergency powers while Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand sent in troops. Shortly thereafter reports emerged of maltreatment of prisoners in custody. Some of those said to have been abused were peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators with no involvement in the unrest.
Tongan soldiers allegedly beat detainees with rifle butts during arrest and transport to overcrowded police cells. One man was admitted to hospital with a broken nose and jaw.
According to a report compiled by the National Centre for Women and Children (NCWC), some prisoners were also beaten by police at Nuku’alofa Police Station, while others suffered violent interrogation and forced confessions. Some report having been handcuffed and denied food for extended periods:
“One of the prisoners was crying – crying like he was at a putu [Tongan funeral]. He was begging too. His handcuffs had been on for three days straight. They [the Police] wouldn’t even take them off when he went to do a shit. The cuffs had worked themselves so tight that they had cut through his skin and you could see his wrist bones exposed.”
All prisoners in the period under investigation (16-30 November) were held incommunicado and denied other rights such as legal representation. Witnesses claim up to 50% of detainees were children, housed with adults and suffering the same physical abuses.
This tiny South Pacific island nation is a constitutional monarchy in a period of transition since the death of elderly King Tupou IV earlier this year and his son George V yet to be crowned. The unicameral parliament is dominated by men with inherited land and titles known as chiefs or nobles. Only a minority of parliamentary seats is open to popular election.
Pro-democracy advocates were demonstrating peacefully outside the modest weatherboard parliament building that fateful day. Apparently oblivious to their presence, the MPs voted themselves a 60% payrise and then adjourned, refusing to address democratic reforms put before them.
The arson and looting that followed, both in the capital of Nuku’alofa and surrounds, appeared to target royal, chiefly and foreign-owned businesses. However, some 80% of the CBD was destroyed when the fires spread in high winds. Soldiers were not summoned to fight the fires.
In response to the allegations of prisoner abuse, Major Alda Motua of the Tonga Defence Service is quoted to have said: "We don’t want to count it, we don’t even want to acknowledge it.”
According to alleged victims interviewed by NCWC, there were foreign police — either Australian or New Zealander — present in Nuku’alofa Police Station at the time and attended some interrogations. Notably, prisoners were not threatened or assaulted in the presence of these foreign police.
I would add to the NCWC’s list of recommendations a call for Australian and New Zealand police authorities to give an account of their role at the Nuku’alofa Police Station and any abuses they may have witnessed.
A UN official is expected in Tonga this week to investigate the allegations.
The National Centre for Women and Children hopes to release a more detailed report before the end of the year. The state of emergency will remain in force until at least mid-January.
When I lived in Tonga students from my school attacked another school. There was a great deal of damage to property. A large number of my students were arrested the following day and taken to the same police station in Nuku’alofa as mentioned in this report. Many were beaten and verbally abused. If asked, I’m sure a large number of Tongans would have thought this was appropriate and the beginning of their punishment. If asked, many of the students probably would have said that they expected such abuse or even deserved it.
Similar accusations have since been levelled against the army in neighbouring Fiji, where a state of emergency has been declared since the coup of 5 December. Five pro-democracy supporters claim to have been beaten by Fijian soldiers, as described by this woman, made to lie face-down on the ground: