[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Leila likens mass strip search in Cebu jail to ‘Nazi cruelty’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=”]
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_image src=’http://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/nation-De-Lima-1-962×430.jpg’ attachment=’99042′ attachment_size=’featured’ align=’center’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=’yes’ font_size=’14’ appearance=’on-hover’ overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’ animation=’no-animation’]
Hundreds of inmates of the Cebu provincial jail sit naked in a courtyard while their cells are searched for illegal drugs and contraband. AFP
[/av_image]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MANILA – Denouncing the mass strip search of inmates at Cebu’s provincial jail, Sen. Leila de Lima is pushing for a Senate investigation into the government’s Feb. 25 anti-drug operation.
The stripping of Cebu inmates is similar to the treatment of prisoners in German concentration camps, de Lima said, who is detained at the Custodial Center of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame, Quezon City for drug trafficking charges.
She was reacting to the proliferation of their naked photos online, during a drug search operation.
“The conduct of how the State handled the situation reflects not of the inmates’ humanity but our own,” the former Justice secretary said.
“This degrading and inhuman treatment of prisoners seem reminiscent to the situation of how concentration camp captives were once treated in Nazi Germany wherein human rights were belligerently violated and trampled upon.”
The surprise inspection of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, known as “Greyhound” operation, was conducted by members of the PNP, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The raid seized 80 mobile phones, 19 medium sachets of shabu, and P92,000 in cash among others.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights has been urged to take action against erring officers and officials for the inhuman treatment accorded to Cebu inmates.
“Citizens should be educated that incarceration does not strip prisoners of their human rights, and that even in detention, inmates still have the claim to be treated as members of society,” de Lima said.
“It is the duty of the State to value the rights of all human beings, and it should not be tight-lipped upon the occurrence of human rights violations even when it was made at the pretense of achieving the greater good.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
