Mozambique: Cabo Delgado insurgents destroy crops in alleged revenge attack
File photo
The Public Prosecutor’s office in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province said today that Mozambican journalist Amade Abubacar, who has been detained for two months, is in good health. The announcement comes after information denouncing maltreatment and his critical condition circulated.
“Amade Abubacar is in good health and is not suffering any maltreatment. He has received visits,” said Armando Wilson, a spokesman for the Provincial Attorney General’s Office in that province.
Wilson was speaking during a visit to Amade Abubacar in jail, an initiative led by provincial chief prosecutor Octávio Zilo, who allowed journalists to talk to their colleague for the first time since his arrest.
Amade Abubacar, 31 years old, a journalist at community radio Nacedje and contributor to the Zitamar News portal, was arrested on January 5 in the village of Macomia while photographing families leaving the area in fear of the armed violence perpetrated by unidentified groups in the region.
Recording and photography were not allowed during the brief meeting, held in the presence of the penitentiary management. Amade Abubacar said he was in good health, and was not suffering from any maltreatment.
The accusation that Amade Abubacar, who is in prison on charges of a breach of state secrecy and public instigation using computerised means, was suffering ill-treatment was made on Monday by Amnesty International, which considers his arrest illegal.
“Allegations that Amade Abubacar is being ill-treated and denied medical treatment must be investigated thoroughly and transparently and all those suspected of criminal responsibility brought to book”, Regional Director of Amnesty International for southern Africa, Deprose Muchena, said in a the statement.
Abubacar is being held in the Mieze penitentiary, which houses a considerable number of individuals suspected of being linked to the armed groups that have carried out attacks in Cabo Delgado.
The Mozambican journalist’s case is still in the preparatory phase, but the prosecutor’s spokesman said that its outcome could be known in the coming weeks.
In addition to Abubacar, another journalist, Germano Daniel Adriano, also from Nacedje Community Radio and Television in Macomia, was arrested on February 18, also accused of violation of state secrecy and public instigation.
The wave of violence in Cabo Delgado erupted after an armed attack on police stations in the village of Mocímboa da Praia by a group from a local mosque preaching insurgency against the state.
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