Cameroon’s National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms has condemn police torture of 17-year-old Ibrahim Bello which led to the amputation of his legs.

The commission investigations published recently in yaounde reveal that Ibrahim Bello was subjected to police torture during his arrest and detention. The commission’s report states that Bello’s health deteriorated at the police station shortly after his arrest for alleged robbery.

Going by the report, although it is evident that the teenager had been brutalised by the crowd before being presented to the police station on February 5, 2017, all testimonies received suggests that Bello lived his worst atrocities only in police detention which led to his deplorable health.

“Moreover, the prolonged use of handcuffs is clearly one of the causes of the serious wounds on the wrist of Bello going by the confessions of police officers. The commission is led to believe that the amputation of all his legs and feet is also due to brutal police torture. The fact that the police did not bring him to the hospital on 7 February, after having noted and mentioned in their register “Bello’s precarious health, signals bad faith”, “the report states.

Ibrahim Bello was caught allegedly trying to steal from a lawyer’s car in Ombessa, in the Mbam and Inoubou division of the Center region. Some accounts say he was taken to the Ombessa Public Security police station where he was tortured severely and thrown out of the police station days later. According to this narration, the youngster was taken to the Ombessa hospital already handicapped by the torture he received in detention.

Faced with these revelations, Martin Mbarga Nguele, the police boss is said to have ordered the incident should be rigorously investigated so that perpetrators should be brought to book. It should be recalled that the no-nonsense police chief has been known to dole out severe sanctions on defaulting police officers recently, in a bid to restore the lost dignity and honour of the Cameroon police force.  The national human rights commission inquiry report confirms public opinion of the country’s deplorable detention conditions.

Ibrahim Bello is still at the yaounde Central Hospital where he is being treated but he is now deprived of his lower limbs and his left arm.