South Korea Ordered to Compensate Moroccan Citizen for Torture and Detention

A South Korean court in the capital Seoul has issued a ruling ordering compensation for a Moroccan citizen who had filed a lawsuit against the South Korean state for human rights violations and torture at the “Hwaseong” Foreigners’ Detention Center three years ago, according to media in the Asian country.

According to the same sources, Judge Kim Yong-su of the Civil Division of the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the South Korean state and the victim for a total compensation of 10 million won, for the psychological and physical harm suffered as a result of the use of illegal methods by the detention center officials. The judgment indeed confirmed that “the use of protective equipment in the so-called ‘shrimping’ manner – a method of torture – not only causes severe pain to the body of the person concerned, but also constitutes an inhuman practice that violates the minimum of human dignity.”

The media also reported that the Moroccan citizen, who was residing in South Korea as an asylum seeker, received a deportation order in March 2021. He was placed in the “Hwaseong” detention center, where he allegedly had an altercation with center officers who forced him to have his hands and feet tied behind his back in solitary confinement. The detention center opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the incident after the case was made public, acknowledging human rights violations at the time.