El Salvador children tortured, imprisoned in gang crackdown

A child, victim of the earthquake, receives a plate of food while others wait in line on February 15, 2001, in Verapaz, El Salvador. [Getty Images]

More than 1,000 minors have been convicted of crimes under a state of emergency in force in El Salvador since March 2022, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday, denouncing indiscriminate arrests and even torture.

Children have received sentences ranging from two to 12 years in prison, "often on such overly broad charges as unlawful association, and frequently on the basis of uncorroborated police testimony," the NGO said in a report.