According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, all of the military personnel showed evidence of having been hung by their wrists for extended periods of time. During the September election campaign, a guard at the former U.S. Embassy was arrested by police and beaten. Police released him after high level diplomatic intervention. His late uncle, a political opponent of the regime, had been beaten to death in Malabo's Blackbeach Prison 2 years before. Prison conditions are extremely primitive and life-threatening.
Rations are inadequate, and sanitary facilities are practically nonexistent.
Prison authorities do not normally target women for harassment, but female prisoners are not housed separately from men. Prison conditions are not monitored by independent organizations. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile Police routinely hold persons in incommunicado detention. The Government arrested political figures and detained them for indeterminate periods. At least 15 members of the opposition were arrested for political activity during the year.