Sawt Falasteen - Pope hits out at jails in closed-off Equatorial Guinea

Prisoners lined up in the freshly repainted courtyard of Bata prison, breaking into song and dance in the driving rain as they greeted the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

"The administration of justice aims to protect society," the US-born pontiff, 70, told the 600 detainees, which included about 30 women.

"To be effective, however, it must always promote the dignity of every person."

Following his prison visit, the pontiff went on to address thousands of worshippers at a packed and festive Bata stadium, where he stressed the importance of "respect for the rights of every citizen, every family, every social group".

That sentiment borrowed closely from an address made by Pope John Paul II when he made a visit to the country of two million people in 1982.

Dressed in bright orange or khaki-green uniforms, the inmates at Bata prison -- most of them young men -- all had shaved heads and wore plastic sandals on their feet. Some wore facemasks.

The red carpet, stage, Vatican flags and the speakers blaring festive music reflected the authorities' efforts to give the best possible image of the prison, despite longstanding harsh criticism of conditions inside.

The heavens opened just seconds after the pope's arrival, drenching the prisoners and the courtyard. At the end of the meeting, sodden inmates chanted "libertad" (freedom).

In a 2023 report, the US State Department documented cases of torture, extreme overcrowding and deplorable sanitary conditions in Equatorial Guinea's prisons.

Leo's comments, although delivered diplomatically, represent an open critique usually unheard of in a country accused of stifling freedom of expression.

- Justice -

Pope Leo was on the 10th day of his African tour, following a hectic schedule that began on Wednesday with a mass in Mongomo, near the border with Gabon.

During the service, with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in the congregation, the Catholic leader called for "greater room for freedom" and human dignity to be safeguarded.

Obiang, who has been in power of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea since 1979 and at 83 is the world's longest-serving head of state who is not a monarch, has regularly been accused of rights abuses.

"My thoughts go to the poorest, to families experiencing difficulty and to prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions," the pontiff said.

Amnesty International in 2021 called detainees "forgotten people", who are often jailed in notorious prisons such as Bata after flawed trials.

"Since they enter the prison walls, they have neither been seen nor heard from, and their relatives do not know whether they are alive or dead," the global rights monitor said.

But one local teacher, who gave his name as Mr Ondo, questioned whether the pope's intervention would change how justice is administered, denouncing a "lack of independence" in the system and corrupt judges and magistrates.

- Balloons -

Pope Leo was welcomed at the Mongomo basilica in a supercharged atmosphere, with fireworks and a release of balloons celebrating his arrival, plus a tour through cheering crowds in the popemobile.

The pope, who has had to strike a delicate balance in the country, arrived on Tuesday after stops in Algeria, Cameroon and Angola.

In a speech, he urged the country to place itself "in the service of law and justice" -- pointed remarks in an authoritarian country that is one of the most closed-off in Africa.

But his tone was more measured than on his previous stops, when he lambasted the "tyrants" ransacking the world, condemned "exploitation" by the rich and powerful, and clashed with Donald Trump after the US president took issue with his call for an end to the Middle East war.

Eighty percent of the small coastal country's two million people are Catholics, a legacy of Spanish colonisation.

But according to Human Rights Watch, "vast oil revenues fund lavish lifestyles for the small elite surrounding the president, while a large proportion of the population continues to live in poverty".

The pope will wrap up his 11-day, 18,000-kilometre (11,200-mile) Africa trip on Thursday with an open-air mass in the capital, Malabo, then return to Rome.

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST