El Salvador President Bukele denies beating and torture of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in prison
In a post on the social media platform X, Bukele wrote that Abrego Garcia 'wasn't tortured, nor did he lose weight.' In the post, Bukele included pictures and video of Abrego Garcia in a detention cell.
'If he'd been tortured, sleep-deprived, and starved, why does he look so well in every picture?' Bukele wrote.
It comes after Abrego Garcia said he suffered severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation and psychological torture in the notorious El Salvador prison the Trump administration had mistakenly deported him to in March, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.
He said he was kicked and hit so often after arrival that by the following day, he had visible bruises and lumps all over his body. He said he and 20 others were forced to kneel all night long and guards hit anyone who fell.
In the new court documents, Abrego Garcia said detainees at CECOT 'were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.'
Abrego Garcia's description falls in line with accounts from other Salvadorans who were detained under Bukele's state of emergency, where the government has detained more than 1% of the Central American nation's population in its war on the country's gangs.
Hundreds of people people have died in the prisons, according to human rights groups, which have also documented cases of torture and deteriorated conditions.
Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland when he was mistakenly deported and became a flashpoint in U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. The new details of Abrego Garcia's incarceration in El Salvador were added to a lawsuit against the Trump administration that Abrego Garcia's wife filed in Maryland federal court after he was deported.
The Trump administration has asked a federal judge in Maryland to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that it is now moot because the government returned him to the United States as ordered by the court.
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
El Salvador's president disputes claims Abrego Garcia was tortured in notorious prison
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Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
El Salvador president denies that Abrego Garcia was tortured in prison
WASHINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) - El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Thursday denied accusations that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant returned to the U.S. in early June after being wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador, was tortured in a Salvadoran prison. In a court filing in the U.S. on Wednesday, Abrego Garcia gave a first-hand description of his experience at the Salvadoran high-security prison CECOT and reported severe mistreatment. His lawyers said he lost 31 pounds (14 kg) in his first two weeks there and was "subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival at CECOT, including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture." Bukele disputed that in a social media post on Thursday. "But the man wasn't tortured, nor did he lose weight," Bukele said. "If he'd been tortured, sleep-deprived, and starved, why does he look so well in every picture?" Bukele's post included pictures and video of Abrego Garcia in detention. A Maryland resident whose wife and young child are U.S. citizens, Abrego Garcia was deported from the U.S. on March 15 to El Salvador, despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that he not be sent there because he could be persecuted by gangs. Officials called his removal an "administrative error." Critics of U.S. President Donald Trump pointed to the case as evidence his administration was prioritizing increased deportations over due process - the principle that people in the U.S., whether citizens or not, can contest governmental actions against them in courts. Trump has pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and says Abrego Garcia belongs to the MS-13 gang, an accusation his lawyers deny. The Justice Department brought Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. on June 6 after securing an indictment charging him with working with at least five co-conspirators as part of a smuggling ring to bring immigrants to the U.S. illegally. He has pleaded not guilty and the government says it plans to deport him again. He is currently detained in Tennessee while his criminal case is pending.
