{"id":6430,"date":"2025-09-16T19:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/?p=6430"},"modified":"2025-09-19T13:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T13:27:13","slug":"videos-reveal-torture-in-sapo-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.thedaylight.org\/wp68\/2025\/09\/16\/videos-reveal-torture-in-sapo-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Videos Reveal Torture in Sapo National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Top: Illegal occupants leave the Sapo National Park in August. Filed picture\/Joint Security Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By James Harding Giahyue   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KORJAYEE, Sinoe County \u2013 Six video clips The DayLight has obtained reveal illegal occupants of the Sapo National Park torturing their colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The videos, likely shot by an illegal miner, emerge as joint security forces have begun removing illegal occupants from the park. They show several men, accused of theft and stripped naked, being tortured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMama, oh! I don\u2019t know what I come for in [Sapo] National Park. Y\u2019all feel sorry for me, oh. Y\u2019all will kill me, oh,\u201d cries one of the two men accused of stealing a cell phone in one of the videos. Two miners tie the pair\u2019s hands and legs on their backs, like in the Liberian civil wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s stealing you come for,\u201d replies a man, while other men videotape the terrified, naked victims.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another torturer steps on one of the victims\u2019 backs. He lifts the victim whose chest faces downward and drops him to the ground, while the other victim calls an elder, only identified as Papay Ogunti, for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A torturer nicknamed Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, likely after the Paris Saint-Germain forward, said they would have killed the two torture victims if it were in an isolated area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video ends with the two victims on the ground like ducks, resigned to their fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The surroundings in the video and five others match pictures from an unpublished official report, seen by The DayLight. The amateur, cell phone-shot videos, corroborate the report\u2019s findings of \u201cimmoral and cruel acts far away from human civilization.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joint security forces have removed about 2,000 people from the so-called \u201cCamp America,\u201d one of the park\u2019s illegal settlements. The operations, comprising the army, the police, the Forestry Development Authority, and other agencies, are aimed at clamping down on cross-border crimes and sub-regional insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights abuses are common in illicit mines across Liberia due to their remote location. However, the videos lay that fact bare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Rule of tradition\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another video shows two men accused of stealing L$80,000 (US$450) bleeding from a head wound. One of the men was forced to drink alcohol and admit to the offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it good to steal?\u201d One of his tormentors asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, it is not good,\u201d the naked man replies. \u201cNobody must steal, oh!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe time you were supposed to use your head passed,\u201d a torturer says in disagreement with the victim\u2019s plea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any angry torturer burns one of the victims with a blazing plastic sack. Seconds later, another kicked the victim\u2019s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men can be heard threatening to kill the second victim, while another miner pours liquor on his bleeding head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A collage of screengrabs, showing four men being tortured for allegedly stealing L$80,000 and a cell phone in the Sapo National Park. Graphic by Rebazar Forte<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two videos reveal slightly different torture techniques. While the torturers refrain from beating or bounding the victims, their punishments are equally ruthless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of the videos, a shirtless man is made to carry rocks in a bag attached to a twine rope, tearing into his skin. One of the torturers insists the victim must carry the rock-filled bag for 10 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next video features a shirtless, exhausted victim lying on the ground after carrying a log for several hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bystander argues against the treatment but faces fierce opposition from the torturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not under the rule of the government,\u201d an illegal occupant says. \u201cWe are under the rule of tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sometimes the tide turns in favor of the victim. In one video, a miner is being saved from drowning after falling into a deep mining pit. He had been chasing a man suspected of stealing something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was going to leave in the water,\u201d an illicit miner commentates on the ordeal, as the terrified man hangs on to a stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can make it with the man?\u201d The commentary continues. \u201cYou go to arrest someone, but you can make it. Now they are hauling him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the video below: <\/p>\n\n\n

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