A former Guinea-Bissau prime minister, Jose Fadul, said on Wednesday he was beaten up by men in uniform at his home in the latest violence blamed on the military in the troubled West African country.
Amnesty International said the assault overnight follows the arrest, beating and torture of a well-known lawyer, who like Fadul, was being treated in the country’s main Simao Mendez hospital.
”Men in uniform forced their way into my house around 1am. They hurled abuse at me and beat me repeatedly and dragged me across the floor,” Fadul told AFP by phone.
Fadul was prime minister for several months in 1999 and is currently head of the national audit office.
He also leads a small opposition party which is not represented in Parliament.
Hospital director Agostinho Semedo said Fadul’s life was not in danger but that he had bruises on his head and upper body.
In a statement, Amnesty said the beating ”follows an assault by the military of well-known lawyer Pedro Infanda, who was arrested, severely beaten and tortured for four days by military officials before being transferred to police custody”.
The country is reeling from the March 2 assassination by soldiers of President Joao Bernardo Vieira, apparently in reprisal for a bomb blast which killed the army chief of staff the day before.
The government announced on Wednesday it was delaying a presidential election to June 28, two months later than anticipated. — Sapa-AFP