Swedes escape deadly Haiti prison riot
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - Six Swedish officials and an American were briefly taken hostage during a deadly weekend escape attempt and riot at Haiti's largest prison, penal authorities in Haiti and Sweden said Monday.
Haiti's Penitentiary Administration assistant director Frantz Dehonnett said two prisoners were shot dead and one suffocated when panicked inmates rioted after a large group of prisoners used the visiting officials as a shield in an attempt Sunday to flee the prison.
Twelve inmates were wounded in the melee, he said.
"We have suppressed the movement, and none of the 1,500 inmates has escaped. We have complete control of the prison, but we remain vigilant," Dehonnett told AFP.
"Seven officials from the UN mission in Haiti and three Haitian employees of the prison were held hostage by the rebels before being released," he said, without providing the nationalities of the seven United Nations officials.
A spokesman for the Haitian police said two of the hostages were members of the aid group Medecins San Frontieres, or Doctors without Borders.
Earlier on Monday, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service said six Swedes and one US official were briefly taken hostage, and that the standoff ended after about 45 minutes when Haitian police and UN peacekeepers intervened.
"At 10:30 (1430 GMT) on Sunday morning the Swedish Prison and Probation Service employee, together with five other Swedes and an American citizen, were surrounded by a large group of prisoners. The prisoners used the hostages in an attempt to flee," the statement said.
The authority said none of the hostages was severely hurt.
But deputy chief of Haiti's UN police force, Fredrik Bjerkeborn, said one of the visiting officials was shot.
"We have not had that confirmed but the information we have received says at least three inmates were killed," the Swede said in comments broadcast on Swedish public radio Monday.
Bjerkeborn said the seven foreign officials had been "taken off guard by hundreds of prisoners" during a visit at Port-au-Prince's national prison.
"One was shot. I do not want to comment on the other injuries," he said.
Swedish radio reported three of the Swedes were serving with the UN's MINUSTAH mission in Haiti and two of them were Swedish police officers on an international cooperation mission.
More than 1,500 people are incarcerated at Haiti's main prison, which was seriously damaged by the January 12 earthquake that leveled much of Port-au-Prince.
Haitian human rights groups regularly deplore the "inhuman" conditions in the impoverished nation's overpopulated prisons.
Haiti's Penitentiary Administration assistant director Frantz Dehonnett said two prisoners were shot dead and one suffocated when panicked inmates rioted after a large group of prisoners used the visiting officials as a shield in an attempt Sunday to flee the prison.
Twelve inmates were wounded in the melee, he said.
"We have suppressed the movement, and none of the 1,500 inmates has escaped. We have complete control of the prison, but we remain vigilant," Dehonnett told AFP.
"Seven officials from the UN mission in Haiti and three Haitian employees of the prison were held hostage by the rebels before being released," he said, without providing the nationalities of the seven United Nations officials.
A spokesman for the Haitian police said two of the hostages were members of the aid group Medecins San Frontieres, or Doctors without Borders.
Earlier on Monday, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service said six Swedes and one US official were briefly taken hostage, and that the standoff ended after about 45 minutes when Haitian police and UN peacekeepers intervened.
"At 10:30 (1430 GMT) on Sunday morning the Swedish Prison and Probation Service employee, together with five other Swedes and an American citizen, were surrounded by a large group of prisoners. The prisoners used the hostages in an attempt to flee," the statement said.
The authority said none of the hostages was severely hurt.
But deputy chief of Haiti's UN police force, Fredrik Bjerkeborn, said one of the visiting officials was shot.
"We have not had that confirmed but the information we have received says at least three inmates were killed," the Swede said in comments broadcast on Swedish public radio Monday.
Bjerkeborn said the seven foreign officials had been "taken off guard by hundreds of prisoners" during a visit at Port-au-Prince's national prison.
"One was shot. I do not want to comment on the other injuries," he said.
Swedish radio reported three of the Swedes were serving with the UN's MINUSTAH mission in Haiti and two of them were Swedish police officers on an international cooperation mission.
More than 1,500 people are incarcerated at Haiti's main prison, which was seriously damaged by the January 12 earthquake that leveled much of Port-au-Prince.
Haitian human rights groups regularly deplore the "inhuman" conditions in the impoverished nation's overpopulated prisons.
Last Updated (Monday, 18 October 2010 15:58)
