Activists in Equatorial Guinea alleged Monday that plainclothes security forces snatched and beat up the head of their human rights and development organisation at the weekend.

Alfredo Okenve was “sequestered… (and) mistreated by security forces wearing civilian clothes”, the Centre for Studies and Initiatives for the Development of Equatorial Guinea (CEID-GE) said in a statement.

A relative of Okenve’s, Analeto Medja, told AFP: “He was taking his brother to the airport. Four people stopped his car and forced him at gunpoint to get into theirs. They took him to some wasteland and beat him hard until he was bleeding, then they left him there.”