TWELVE asylum seekers kept at Limassol’s Detention Centre have charged the police with abuse and inhuman treatment, with immigrant support group KISA saying yesterday they were illegally kept together with criminals, fearing for their lives and physical integrity.
“We have heard a lot about the situation in Block 10 in Nicosia, but the situation in Limassol is ten times worse. These men are not criminals, but are treated as such and beaten by the guards,” KISA (Action for Equality, Support and Antiracism) spokesman Doros Michail told the Cyprus Mail.
The latest abuse charges came following a series of incidents that took place on Monday night when the 12 detainees, who were on hunger strike, began chanting in support of the Iranian asylum seekers involved in a rooftop protest at Block 10 in Nicosia.
According to KISA, CID officers – and not the resident guards – intervened using excessive force to stop the detainees from demonstrating. Many of the detainees were wounded and sustained bruises on their bodies.
One of the detainees, an Iranian asylum seeker, then attempted to commit suicide, tying a sheet around his neck to hang himself. Other detainees, including some Cypriots, reportedly tried to prevent the guards from untying the man, forming a circle around him, but the guards finally succeeded in breaking the circle and preventing the Iranian from taking his life.
Eight of the men were transferred to Limassol Hospital, but were shortly returned to the detention centre. One of the alleged victims, followed by another one’s family member contacted KISA informing the organisation of Monday’s events.
KISA has sent official complaints to the Ombudsman, the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee and senior police officers.
Limassol Police Director Tassos Oikonomides said yesterday that “a necessary degree of violence was used to prevent the worse from happening”. In regards to the suicide attempt, Oikonomides said that “incidents of self-harm by the detainees are common, and are made in an effort to assign responsibility to the police.”
The police deny that the detainees were on hunger strike.
KISA insists the men should be released: “We believe that the state is responsible to release these people, since it cannot handle them otherwise. This is also the position of the Ombudsman, as expressed in her 2005 report, as well as the view held by many international organisations,” said Michail.
“The situation in their home countries is terrible; in Iran they may be beaten and abused by the police for wearing short-sleeved shirts or having long hair. These people came to Cyprus to escape this abuse, and now our policemen beat them,” he added.
A request to speak with the detained asylum seekers was denied by police.
