Rights group: leaked El Salvador data confirm abuses

By MARCOS ALEMÁN
Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Human Rights Watch says it has obtained a database leaked from the government of El Salvador that corroborates massive due process violations, severe prison overcrowding and deaths in custody under the country’s emergency powers put in place last March to confront a surge in gang violence. The global human rights organization said the database from the Ministry of Public Safety lists details about some 50,000 people arrested between the implementation of the state of exception in late March through late August. A spokesperson for the president said they had not seen the report early Friday and had no comment.