Cameroon Says Treats Boko Haram Suspects Humanely Despite Prison Deaths

Rejecting a rights group report that accused the army of abuses, a Cameroonian government minister said on Friday that Cameroon is treating hundreds of suspected Boko Haram militants in its prisons humanely--despite the death of 25 in a prison cell last December. Information Minister Issa Tchiroma said several of the Boko Haram suspects were arrested with arms in their possession, while others were caught with mobile phone videos in which they were filmed slitting the throats of their victims. Cameroon soldiers, alongside armies from neighboring Chad, Niger and Nigeria have launched an offensive against the Sunni jihadist group, whose six-year insurgency to establish an Islamic emirate in northern Nigeria, is threatening the stability of the region.