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police room. The police were very bad in there. When people run [attempt to
escape], they beat.... My father said to them, “I want to go outside, my child
to study.” So the police, they beat my father. 128
Children Forced to Watch Beatings at Pekanbaru IDC
Safia and Nasir A., a couple from Afghanistan, were detained at Pekanbaru IDC for
one year with their three daughters who were then 10, 6, and 4 years old. 129 They
related an incident in late 2010 when immigration guards forced their family and two
other families to watch as the guards beat two adult migrants:
Safia said, “Ten people escaped. Two were caught by the guards, and they brought
them back. They beat them like animals. The blood came from their nose, their face,
all parts of their bodies. They had called all the families to watch…. My children were
very scared when they saw this happen in front of them.”
The beating took place, according to Nasir, in a small internal courtyard between the
immigration office and his family’s cell. “Eight guards brought the two people back,”
said Nasir. “They beat them in front of the three families [who were staying in the IDC
at the time].” Safia reported that the immigration guards said, “See this person,
don’t escape, or you will be like this.”
Nasir said he attempted to intervene: “I pleaded, ‘Don’t beat them in front of my
kids.’ Eventually, they let us take the kids into the room, and [the immigration
guards] locked them in there. They made me go back outside [to watch].” Safia said
she knew her young children could still hear the beating. “The men were crying very
loudly. [The immigration guards] used electric shocks too.”
128 Human Rights Watch interview with Enayet H., Medan, August 24, 2012.
129 Human Rights Watch group interview with Nasir and Safia A., Medan, August 26, 2012.
41 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | JUNE 2013