VIDEO: Angolan Prison Authorities Crack Down on Prisoners

A video showing what appears to be prison guards and firefighters beating a group of prisoners in Luanda (warning: graphic) has been widely shared on Angolan social media. Amnesty International reacted saying that the footage “is shocking and must be investigated,”

The footage, recorded on a mobile phone and distributed via social media, is 5 minutes and 39 seconds long and is believed to have been recorded earlier this month. It shows a group of prisoners sitting on the ground as law enforcement officials and fire fighters drag them from the group one-by-one, kick them and beat them with sticks and leather straps.

The footage appears to have been taken in Viana Prison, in the country’s capital Luanda, where similar footage had previously been uncovered.

Angola's Ministry of the Interior stated on August 27, 2013, that a commission of inquiry would be opened to investigate the case, “the latest in an increasingly disturbing pattern of brutal conduct by Angolan prison authorities”, the human rights organization says:

Given the recurrence of these incidences, it is clearly not enough that a commission of inquiry is opened into such cases.

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