Some 500 prisoners have died during El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's four-year anti-gang war -- most of them not gang members, according to a human rights group.
Since March 27, 2022, Bukele has maintained a state of emergency under which 91,000 people have been detained without warrants, leading to human rights violations, according to a report by Socorro Juridico Humanitario ("Humanitarian Legal Aid," or SJH).
Based on testimonies from family members and access to unofficial sources, the group said it has compiled information on the deaths of 500 people in detention, 94 percent of whom were not gang members.
SJH, which criticized the lack of government information about prisoners, found that nearly a third of the deaths were due to a lack of medical attention, and that 30 percent were violent deaths.
In only a few cases were proper police inspections conducted despite signs of violence on bodies, the group said.
"These constitute widespread, systematic acts against the civilian population in state custody," which "fit the definition of crimes against humanity," the report stated.
On his X account, Bukele has posted several messages accusing human rights organizations of being "international law firms for crime."
"We will never listen to them, no matter how much they attack us," he said on Wednesday.
Bukele is popular in the country because he reduced homicides to historic lows and dismantled the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 gangs, which have been declared terrorist organizations by the United States and El Salvador.
