POLICE TORTURE UPRISING ACTIVIST

A Swazi activist said today (7 April 2011) that he had been detained and beaten as police interrogated him about plans to organise the ‘uprising’ on Tuesday against King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, the AFP news agency reports.

Nkolisi Ngcamphalana, national organiser for the youth wing of the banned opposition People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), told AFP that he was detained Tuesday night and held for 24 hours. He said police beat him, placed plastic bags over his head, and then interrogated him about calls for national protests.

‘They grilled me about the April 12 uprising, and they kicked and beat me,’ he said shortly after his release. ‘Right now they are outside my house. They are intimidating my family,’ he said. ‘They threatened me with death.’

Several other activists have been arrested as police raided their homes in recent days, said Maxwell Dlamini, head of the Swaziland National Union of Students which has led the protest calls. ‘We expect more raids in the coming days,’ he said.

To read the full AFP report, click here.