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Gabon’s deposed President Ali Bongo, sons begin hunger strike amid torture allegations
Former President Ali Bongo of Gabon, along with his two sons, have initiated a hunger strike in protest against what their family’s legal team claims are “acts of torture and barbarity” inflicted upon them.
Mr. Bongo was removed from power in a military coup last August following a heavily contested presidential election.
Since his ousting, Ali Bongo, alongside his sons Jalil and Bilal, has been under house arrest in Libreville, the capital of Gabon.
Additionally, his wife Sylvia Bongo and eldest son Noureddin are currently detained, awaiting trial on charges of corruption.
In a recent statement, their legal representatives detailed harrowing accounts of Noureddin being subject to repeated torture including beatings with a hammer, crowbar, strangulation, whipping, and electrocution with a taser.
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Furthermore, they allege that Sylvia was physically assaulted, strangled, and made to witness the brutality inflicted upon Noureddin.
The BBC reached out to Gabonese authorities for a response to these serious allegations, but there has been no official comment as of yet.
Ali Bongo, who took over as president from his father in 2009 after a 40-year tenure, has seen his family’s plight draw international attention.
Their legal team has lodged a formal complaint with the Paris judicial court just ahead of a scheduled visit by Gabon’s junta leader, Gen Brice Oligui Nguema, to France.
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