Rwanda rights group says detention abuses make jail 'place of fear'

French president Emmanuel Macron (R) welcomes his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame ahead of their meeting on the sideline of the 19th Summit of the Francophonie at the Grand Palais in Paris, on October 5, 2024. [AFP]

Rwandan authorities are perpetrating serious human rights abuses in detention facilities, including torturing inmates, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, denouncing a lack of accountability for those responsible.

Under President Paul Kagame's three-decade rule, political dissent and free speech have been crushed, with international campaigners long decrying the shrinking civil rights space in the small East African country.