Dominicans allege torture via onions

A Dominican Republic human rights organization claimed that local police use onions as a torture device.

The National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) claimed to have records of dozens of cases where police force onions into people’s mouths in order to give the sensation feeling that they are choking. “It appears that the onion has given them results,” said NCHR vice president Joselin Melo who also noted that it was the first time that onions had been used as weapons.

The Dominican Republic has had a poor record on human rights; earlier this month, Amnesty International highlighted the case of two men detained by police without an arrest warrant and were subsequently been harassed by police. Other instances of police abuse have been uncovered by the NHCR:

The National Commission of Human Rights said it documented 70 cases of alleged torture so far this year, compared to 300 for all of 2008. It said the cases involving onions have occurred at the police station in Santo Domingo and five other detention centers.

The Dominican Committee of Human Rights also is planning to file complaints after investigating torture allegations at the country's biggest prison, committee president Virgilio Almanzar said.

He charged that officials tortured seven inmates in La Victoria by beating them and even breaking one man's arm. Authorities also have demanded up to $140 from inmates' relatives to transfer them out of isolation cells, Almanzar said.

Most of those targeted in the prison are Haitian, he said.

Image- daylife.com (“Dominican Republic police officers from the SWAT team patrol the neighborhood of Capotillo to control demonstrations during a national strike for an increase in workers' salaries in Santo Domingo April 9, 2008.”)
Online Sources- Amnesty International, etaiwannews.com, The Daily Mail