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Photo: Jerome Delay / AP / TT
Chadian soldiers on their way to Lake Chad. Stock Photography.
How could 44 suspected Boko Haram jihadists die in a prison in Chad? Have they been killed or committed suicide? Many demand answers from the government.
The prisoners were found dead Thursday in the cell they shared. They were part of a larger group of 58 suspected Boko Haram members who were imprisoned in a military offensive in the Lake Chad border area. At the autopsy of four of the dead, traces of a deadly substance were found that could cause a heart attack or suffocation, according to prosecutor Youssouf Tom.
Justice Minister Djimet Arabi tells AFP that an investigation into the deaths has begun. The 14 surviving prisoners will be questioned.
Civil rights groups demand answers, and opposition politicians demand independent scrutiny.
– It is a serious violation of human rights. When an armed enemy is under your control, you must enjoy full humanitarian protection, says Jean Bosco Manga of a local civil rights movement.
Bulama Bukarti, an expert on the jihadist group with the terror seal Boko Haram, says that the prisoners may have chosen to take poison to avoid the humiliation of being brought to trial. However, no previous collective suicides have been reported.
Bukarti also speculates that the prisoners were poisoned as revenge by 98 Chadian soldiers killed in an attack on Lake Chad in March.
A third possible scenario represented by Bukarti is that there were never so many prisoners from the beginning, without Chad exaggerating the number of prisoners.
“The only way to save face in that case would be to summarize a story like this,” he says.
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